Amateur Astronomy submitted article

The Big Bang, the Fabric of Space and the Apple
By William K. Vogeler
The Apple fell because the Big Bang set it in motion.
When the first particles of matter combined in the cataclysmic release of energy called the Big Bang, the early universe expanded outward in a symphony of motion that affects all things. In the beginning, fragments of molecules rolled forward into atoms, gaining mass, size and complexity as diverse as galaxies, stars and planets.
Like an expanding balloon, this evolving matter pushed out against the Fabric of Space and created the boundaries of existence. The universe was curved on the outside edges, but also inside pockets of three-dimensional space as exploding matter replicated the initial Big Bang.
These swirling, spinning galaxies, solar systems and planets carried with them the inertia of creation, manifest in the force of gravity. In the mix of matter curving and bending space, gravity is the apparent effect of matter slowing down due to resistance in space.
It is like a man descending in an elevator. He pushes a button and begins moving, but he senses gravity only as the elevator slows him down. Likewise, the Big Bang set all matter in motion but gravity becomes apparent only as something slows the matter down.
 
On the universal scale, this dynamic explains the apparent acceleration of the expanding universe. Matter on the fringes of the universe appears to be accelerating, but it is due to the diminishing resistance of the Fabric of Space. Space is wearing thin and so it appears that matter is accelerating, when actually gravity is disappearing.
On the galactic scale, this phenomenon may be evident in black holes. This dense matter has effectively torn through the Fabric of Space, drawing all matter in the galaxy towards the anomaly and out of existence. It is funneling somewhere beyond gravity, space and time.
On the solar system scale, planets orbit a star and follow its curvature of space. But each planet moves around the star, balanced on the bends of space created by a parent galaxy on its outward expansion of the universe.
And on the planetary scale, these forces combine with the curvature created by moons and the electromagnetism of planets. As a result, objects on the surface of a planet are held in place but still are moving away from the Big Bang.
In all cases, gravity is the apparent effect of matter launched at the creation of the universe. So the Apple, in effect, is still falling.
Copyright 2007 (C) William K. Vogeler