How Does The Cosmic Web Explained | Cosmology 101 Episode 5 Work?

The cosmic web is like a giant, invisible spiderweb that holds everything in space together.

Imagine you're playing with clay, when you squish it all together and then let go, the clay stretches out into long strings and blobs. That’s kind of what happened to the universe after the Big Bang. Gravity pulled matter together, forming galaxies and stars, but also left behind empty spaces. These galaxies are connected by long, thin strands of matter called filaments, like the threads of a spiderweb, that's why we call it the cosmic web.

Think about how you make a playdough snake, you stretch and twist it until it’s long and wobbly. The cosmic web is just like that, but way bigger! It stretches across the whole universe, linking galaxies together. Some parts are really busy with lots of stars and planets, while other parts are more quiet and empty, kind of like a big, sleepy spiderweb.

Where the web is thick, you get galaxy clusters, bunches of galaxies all hanging out together. And where it's thin or empty? That’s where we find voids, big empty spaces with very few stars. It’s like having a spiderweb that’s full in some places and missing in others.

The cosmic web is the universe’s way of organizing itself, using gravity as its guide, just like you use your hands to shape your playdough!