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Originally Posted by Sam5
...The best model of the universe, based on what we can see from inside it, is Lemaitre’s expanding “fireworks” model. If you look at a big “star burst” fireworks display on the 4th of July, you will see and expanding sphere of bright dots, all moving outward from a “point”. The ones that are most distant from the point are moving the fastest. The ones that are closest to the point are the slowest. The original point doesn’t move.
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Lemaitre’s “fireworks” is not a "model". He was fond of poetic descriptions around his mathematics. He referred to space as "feux d'artifice" or "fireworks". His name for the "Big Bang" was "L'atome primitif" or "the primeval atom". He also called radiation "fumée" or "smoke". So if you want to create a revisionist history theory of the universe drawn from terms that Lemaitre used (without understanding what he meant,) then you’ll also need a conjure up a "smoke model" of radiation to attribute to Lemaitre, so as to explain radiation in an alternative unscientific fashion. And it will also amount to Diddly Squat.
That’s because these are analogies, not specific scientific theories. An analogy is something that draws a comparison in order to show a similarity. Its not the same as the object it is compared with. Lemaitre, Einstein and many others were fond of analogies and used then to illustrate concepts. The descriptions "its like fireworks" "its like raisins in bread dough" or "its like dots representing galaxies on the expanding surface of a balloon" are not scientific models, they are analogies serving as a representation to explain the gist of what is observed.
Based on what is observed, the cosmos on the largest scales seems to be an expanding, accelerating, geometrically flat boundless-yet-finite space-time manifold without a preferred center. It is not a balloon or fireworks display filling preexisting space.
On the local level, space can be curved as theorized by general relativity, and on larger, yet still local levels, such as galaxy clusters, gravitation attracts galaxies toward or around each other. While these processes are happening, on the very largest scales, the universe is expanding from everywhere.
In Lemaitre’s actual theory, the "fireworks" analogy precedes the big bang and expansion. During Lemaitre's lectures at Mt. Wilson observatory (which Einstein attended) Lemaitre stated: "In the beginning of everything we had fireworks of unimaginable beauty. Then there was the explosion, followed by the filling of the heavens with smoke."
This has been said many times but if the universe was just like a fireworks display it would look and behave very differently from what is observed. The expanding balloon with dots on it that move apart only represents the idea of space expanding with no single dot being the preferred center.