How fast is space expanding? 46.2 miles per second per megaparsec.
So every second 19,170,000,000,000,000,000 miles of the universe turns into 19,170,000,000,000,000,046 miles.
Isn't it more fun not using scientific notation? Every second 1 inch turns into 1.000000000000000002399582681273 inches. Ever notice how we use commas to seperate sections of 3 digits on the left of the decimal point but not on the right? So every second the space right around us gets a little larger. An inch of space space 39 years ago when I was born would now be 1.000000002951256338028387792 inches.
A hydrogen atom is .1 nanometers wide. Or .00000000393701 inches. Lets align these.
.00000000393701 - Width of a hydrogen atom
.00000000295125 - How much the universe has expanded in my lifetime.
Does that seem very fast or very slow? I'm not sure I know. Here is a bigger number that might we might be able to wrap out minds around better. I'm gonna use better notation now, all these 0's are getting silly. The observable universe expands 1,317,300 miles every second. That seems pretty fast, but here is where tihngs get weird.
The observable universe is not the end of the universe of course, so the diameter of two observable universes are expanding 2,634,601 miles per second. What I find fascinating, is the because there is theoretically no end to the universe, as you go infinitely far away, the universe is expanding infinitely fast. When I was a kid it was hard thinking how the universe could go on forever, I am having an even harder time comprehending infinite speed.