Does the fact that the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light violate Einstein's special theory of relativity? This is just one of the BIG questions that Derek Muller answers in this overview of the common misconceptions by people about the universe.
The first minute of the video is especially interesting: "There was a time when the universe was expanding so rapidly, the parts of it were moving apart from each other faster than the speed of light. That time is right now. A lot of people make a big deal out of the fact that during inflation, right after our universe burst into existence, the whole universe was expanding faster than light. Now while that is true, it kind of implies that the universe does not normally do that and it does. I mean if you pick two points, far enough apart in our universe, you can always find ones that are moving apart from each other faster than light. That is simply due to all of the expanding space in between.
So our universe is now and has always been expanding faster than the speed of light. But does this violate Einstein's special theory of relativity that says nothing should be able to move faster than light. Actually no. Relativity says nothing can move through space faster than light but that doesn't stop space itself from expanding however it likes."
So our universe is now and has always been expanding faster than the speed of light. But does this violate Einstein's special theory of relativity that says nothing should be able to move faster than light. Actually no. Relativity says nothing can move through space faster than light but that doesn't stop space itself from expanding however it likes."
