I hope those who have expressed contrary ideas in this thread will consider the follow points:

The constituents of matter are held together by forces: Protons and neutrons are made up of quarks held together by gluons that exert extremely strong forces that actually become even stronger as the distances between the particles increase. Atomic nuclei, made up of protons and neutrons, are held together by the nuclear "strong force". Atoms, made up or atomic nuclei and "orbiting" electrons, are held together by electrical forces. Molecules, made up of atoms, are held together by valence forces. Bulk matter, made up of molecules, is held together by several kinds of intermolecular forces. These forces, all short range, meaning that they fall off rapidly with distance, are all many orders of magnitude stronger than that of gravitation.

Space is simply the medium in which matter resides. Matter moves relative to space only when acted upon by forces associated with energy. Space is expanding under the inertial impetus imparted to it at the beginning of the Big Bang. Objects - nuclear particles, atoms, molecules, and solid matter -- are imbedded in space and are carried along by space when it expands..

The negative energy that seems to be forcing space to expand is expected to increase in effectiveness over time over shorter and shorter distances, eventually overcoming the gravitational forces that hold galaxy clusters together, then galaxies themselves, then star clusters, then planetary systems, then planets, then solid matter, then molecules, then atoms, and, eventually, nuclei, protons and neutrons. Finally, even protons and neutrons are expected to dissociate into quarks, and the Universe will, for all practical purposes, have come to an end.