Originally Posted By: Orac

Einstein's initial guess at the universe was based on the same sort of lines ... keep it simple

your version looks identical to what an Einstein big-crunch version looks like in motion. As you adjust the curvature you can get less or more crunch so your version would be sort of a mild crunch.
Ultimately your model fails for the same reasons as Einsteins model.

-The expansion of the universe is increasing according to your model it should be slowing.
-There is no centre of the universe
-How do you explain the cosmic background radiation
-How has the universe not run out of hydrogen

The main difference is that in my model, energy and matter are separately conserved. The expansion is due to a simple thermodynamic change. The internal energies of the galaxy clusters change into their speeds. At the beginning of expansion, the internal energies are high, and so the acceleration is the maximum. At half way of expansion, internal energy and speed are equal, and so the acceleration is zero. Thereafter the the acceleration is negative. So the speed of expansion reaches the maximum at halfway. That is, up to halfway of expansion, there is an increasing expansion; only after that will the expansion slow down.

In my model the universe is spherical and has a centre. There has not been any observational evidence to the contrary.

The E-m radiations and atoms are two types of systems created by the fundamental particles. The former has no internal energy and so moves at the speed 'c'. The latter has internal energy and so can never attain the speed 'c'. The universe contains a system formed by atoms (a system of galaxy-clusters) and a system formed by e-m radiations. Both exist simultaneously and there is always interaction between the two. The system of radiations have no source and remains as back ground radiation. It also cools along with the system of galaxies; both have the same cooling rate. The present average temperature of the system of radiations is 2.7 K, and so the average temperature of the system of galaxy-clusters is also the same. In another 7 million years, the average temperature will be 0K (the wavelength of back ground radiation will be nearly 4.8x10^-3m). There after the temperature will go below absolute zero.

It is not the hydrogen fusion that causes the expansion. Hydrogen fusion is a consequence of the expansion. The most abundant element in the universe will be the middle elements, especially iron. The black holes will contain mainly iron (as is evident from the remnants of the died out stars). The 'abundance' of hydrogen and helium is a myth; even from the present calculations they account for not more than 10 percent of the expected mass of the universe.