Why is space dark?

 

A few days ago, on this Blog, I made a joke that if there are an infinite number of stars why is space dark?

SANDI said this was a good question. Visit her HERE.

So I set up researching and asking someone far brighter than myself. Here's an explanation.

Light travels from the sun to us on earth. When it reaches earth it hits a tree and we see the tree. Actually, we see the light reflecting back from the tree to our eyes; so our eyes and brain identify the tree. Take out the light and we see no tree. Because light is not reflecting off the tree.

OK ... this was lesson one.

Lesson two. Light is made of "little bits of light" we shall call photons. These photons are travelling from the sun to us on earth at the speed of light - very fast. 300,000 km/sec (186,000 miles/sec).

So if you were out in space, sitting there on your armchair, your eyes are not fast enough to see these photons passing by. So all you see is black. Dark space.

The other reason we can't see photons is that they are not close together. If they were all close to each other we would see a blurred line of light. But they are not close together. They travel lonely at high speeds so fast we can't see them.

It's a bit like being in Formula 1 car racing or such like. You're standing in the audience and the cars are passing by so fast that you can hardly see the mole on the driver's nose. Only photons are much faster than a racing car.

Deep under the sea it is very dark. So how do fish see and not bump into each other? 

Their eyes have evolved to detect a lower number of photons so they see the darkness as light. If you were to lift a fish from deep down up to the surface the chances it will be in agony and go blind because of the light up here on the surface. More photons per square metre than deep down in the sea. 

Lesson three. Space is forever expanding. Einstein, Hubble and Stephen Hawkin and others said so. Look them up if you wish to learn more.

Let me explain it in simple terms for my simple mind to understand.

When a baby is born all his insides are within his skin. We'll call the insides the universe. As he grows into a child, an adult and a well built rotund person his skin expands accordingly and so do his insides. His heart, lungs and so on are bigger and further apart from when he was a baby.

The same for the universe. It is expanding and the planets, moons and stars are becoming further apart. BUT ... this is important ... they are not getting bigger like the heart or lungs. The earth is the same size but further apart from other planets. It is moving away from other planets and moons. 

This theory has been proved by scientists although I find it difficult to understand. 

My query. If the universe, which is in fact everything - sun, moons, planets and so on - is expanding; what is it expanding into? If the universe is everything (i.e. there is nothing outside it) then how can it expand into nothing outside it?

Anyone out there can help with an answer?

ADDENDUM: Maybe the problem is one of definition. Instead of saying "the universe is all the stars, planets, moons, galaxies etc ..." perhaps we should say the the universe is a collection of all the stars, planets, moons, galaxies, solar systems and so on contained in a limitless space. They are all in space.

If you take a certain amount of clothing and put them in the fast-spin drying cycle of your washing machine the clothing will fly outwards towards the edge of the spinning drum. It is called centrifugal force - the tendency of an object moving in a circle to travel away from the centre of the circle.

Now if you put exactly the same clothings in a bigger spinning drum, the same will happen. The clothes will go towards the edge of the drum. And again in an even bigger drum, and the same effect will happen. 

The clothes are moving further away from the centre of the drum; but they are not getting any bigger.

It'd the same with all the stars, planets and so on. They are spinning round and round in an ever expanding circle celled space. But they are not getting bigger.

Now I am not a scientist; but that's how I understand it.

Also, I believe that a Creator God knows what He is doing; even though expert scientists can't understand it.