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Tokage
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Had our observations shown shown that the Universe was not expanding, and was instead static, where would that have lead us as far as Cosmology is concerned?
chrisbaird said:As there is ample evidence of the universe's expansion and evolution in ancient times, an observation that the universe is currently not expanding, but is static would mean that it's expansion has slowed down to a stop recently. This would imply that there is enough matter in the universe to halt expansion under its own gravitational attraction, and there was no other significant factor (like dark energy) causing the expansion beyond the initial big band and inertia.
A static Universe is a hypothetical model in which the expansion of the Universe has stopped and all matter and energy are evenly distributed, resulting in a constant and unchanging Universe.
The idea of a static Universe was proposed by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity. He believed that the Universe was unchanging and eternal, and added a "cosmological constant" to his equations to account for this.
Observations of distant galaxies and the cosmic microwave background radiation have shown that the Universe is expanding, not static. This is known as Hubble's Law and is one of the key pieces of evidence for the Big Bang theory.
If the Universe was static, it would mean that there would be no further evolution or change. The expansion of the Universe would not continue, and eventually all matter and energy would reach a state of equilibrium. This would also mean that the Universe would have no beginning or end.
A static Universe would greatly impact our understanding of the Universe and its origins. It would suggest that the Universe has always existed in its current state, rather than having a beginning at the Big Bang. It would also challenge our understanding of the laws of physics and the concept of time.