[flr (OP)]

1. If we distribute some electric charges all repulsive, on a surface of a balloon, I expect the balloon will inflate due to repulsion between charges.
 The interactions are "transmitted" only along the balloon surface that means the distance between two charges is the shortest arc segment along the sphere surface.

2. Let's image now we distribute some "special charges" on the surface of a balloon which have the property that all charges attract each other (they are not electric charges, they are more like mass/gravity if you wish), and the attraction decreases with one over power 1 of the shortest arc segment along the sphere between two charges.

In the second case I can imagine the balloon shrinking,
but could it possible be a certain distribution of the attractive charges on balloon surface which inflate the balloon?

 


 

[Soul Surfer]

No

[flr (OP)]

I would assume the same apply to our universe with (attractive) gravity only: there is no way to distribute masses such that the result is a dilation.

However, I can see a dilation possible locally.
As if there would be something truly massive beyond our universe (perhaps 'radial distributed'?) strongly attracting everything else.