The Universe: An open or Closed system

[vincent]

This is sort of an off track question but I'm confused.

They say that the Universe is expanding & is speeding up. Now when the Big Bang first started. Did it expand as fast as light speed? And if it's constantly expanding & speeding up, does it ever go faster than the speed of light? I mean, if the Universe is about 15 billion yrs old, and is expanding infinitely, will it ever go pass the speed of light?

The rate of expansion can be calculated via the hubble constant v=h/0^r I don't think its near the speed of light, it is getting faster though.

The velocity v could be determined by multiplying the distance R by H, the Hubble constant, given by the slope of the line in the above graph, in units of kilometers per second per million light years. The Hubble constant describes the universe's rate of expansion.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

This is sort of an off track question but I'm confused.

They say that the Universe is expanding & is speeding up. Now when the Big Bang first started. Did it expand as fast as light speed? And if it's constantly expanding & speeding up, does it ever go faster than the speed of light? I mean, if the Universe is about 15 billion yrs old, and is expanding infinitely, will it ever go pass the speed of light?

The light came out at light speed but protons and electrons (which have mass) travel slower than light. As they combined into heavier elements they became even slower. Nothing can actually travel faster than the speed of light.

Dark matter and/or dark energy is the force is that is causing the universe to expand at an accelerated rate. It seems to be some form of negative gravity.

[davemania]

THe expansion of space can exceed speed of light, theres nothing in relativity that prevents this. The prediction of the size of the universe and its ages suggests that space did expand faster than speed of light.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

From what i have heard, it's possible for something to go faster than the speed of light (e.g. the mythical tachyon), but it's not possible to accelerate something past the speed of light.