What does it mean to create space?

[robnissen]

I finally got around to reading the March issue of Scientific American which has a great article on the big bang. The gist of the article is that the big bang is a misnomer, because galaxies are not flying apart, as in an explosion, but rather that we have been in a state of inflation ever since the big bang, where space is expandig between galaxies, forcing the galaxies further apart. But what does it mean to say "space" (which seems to me to be just just another word for "nothing") expands? How does "nothing" expand? It almost looks to me like we are gradually heading back to the ether theory, i.e., that the entire universe is permeated with a substance, and the amount of that substance is expanding. But if the substance is space (nothing?) how does the amount of nothing expand? <br />For a laymen, I usually I have at least a tenous grasp of most of the concepts around here. But I just can't get a handle on how space (nothing?) is constanly being created between galaxies. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[larper]

Space is usually created by kicking your girfriend out and regaining the use all your closet and dresser drawers. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Not a very nice reply.

 

[kmarinas86]

What happens if we could create space in a laboratory, does it make sense that the laboratory would explode? We should send interstellar probes out there. Only that way we really know if dark energy is causing expansion. If we do not send probes out there, the discourse involved with discovering the cause of the expansion and dark energy stays in the realm of metaphysics.