Why does space seem to stretch forever?
Cosmological constant
Why does space seem to stretch forever?
Imagine you're stretching a rubber sheet across a table. If you push down on one corner, the sheet ripples outward. Now, think of the universe as this sheet.
The universe is like that rubber sheet, and there's a mysterious force pushing it apart. This force is what scientists call the "cosmological constant" (Λ).
Example
If you push on the rubber sheet with your hand (like gravity), it ripples outward. But there's another push, invisible, making the sheet stretch forever.
Remember this
The cosmological constant (Λ) represents this invisible force causing the universe to expand forever.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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