From http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/ExpandUni.html

"galaxies are not moving away through space, they are moving away with 
space, as space itself expands."

So does this mean that the all matter is moving away from other matter?

In other words, if galaxies are getting further apart from each other then 
does that not mean that the molecules in your body are also getting further 
apart from each other?

Wasn't it Brett... who wrote:
>From http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/ExpandUni.html
>
>"galaxies are not moving away through space, they are moving away with
>space, as space itself expands."
>
>So does this mean that the all matter is moving away from other matter?
>
>In other words, if galaxies are getting further apart from each other then
>does that not mean that the molecules in your body are also getting further
>apart from each other?

Objects that are gravitationally bound together, like the galaxies in a 
supercluster, or the stars in a galaxy, are currently believed to not 
get any further apart as the universe expands. The "metric" expansion of 
space only makes superclusters recede from one another.

However, we don't yet know whether fundamental physical "constants" like 
the Fine Structure Constant or the mass of the electron are really 
constant. If those constants change over time, then the sizes of the 
atoms in your body will also change over time.

-- 
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

Mike Williams wrote:
> Wasn't it Brett... who wrote:
>>From http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/ExpandUni.html
>>
>>"galaxies are not moving away through space, they are moving away with
>>space, as space itself expands."
>>
>>So does this mean that the all matter is moving away from other
>>matter?
>>In other words, if galaxies are getting further apart from each other
>>then does that not mean that the molecules in your body are also
>>getting further apart from each other?
>
> Objects that are gravitationally bound together, like the galaxies in
> a supercluster, or the stars in a galaxy, are currently believed to
> not get any further apart as the universe expands. The "metric"
> expansion of space only makes superclusters recede from one another.
>

But the force of gravity acts upon all matter doesn't it?
ie galaxies exert a force upon one another though with those distances it is 
going to be very weak I guess.


> However, we don't yet know whether fundamental physical "constants"
> like the Fine Structure Constant or the mass of the electron are
> really constant. If those constants change over time, then the sizes
> of the atoms in your body will also change over time.

I clearly need to read up on that bit!