Kind: captions
Language: en
if the universe as we know it started
with the big bang will it also have an
end and if it's going to end someday
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how there are four main ideas about the
future of our universe the Big Rip the
Big Crunch the big freeze and vacuum
decay all of these ideas come from our
understanding of how the universe is
evolving and that's where we find the
clues for how it could end
so here's what scientists know the
universe is expanding and that expansion
is happening faster and faster
scientists think this is caused by a
mysterious Force called Dark Energy
think of it as the universe's invisible
pump stretching
space so what would happen if this
mysterious force keeps creating new
space let's start with the big
freeze if the universe keeps
accelerating in it expansion thanks to
Dark Energy everything will get farther
and further apart the space between
galaxies will increase Stars will
eventually die and the materials needed
to form new stars will be too spread out
that star formation just can't happen
picture the universe as an endless
winter where everything is at its
absolute coldest possible temperature a
frozen lifeless
void that's one idea
the second way is the Big Rip imagine
the universe expanding faster and faster
so fast that eventually it tears
everything
apart dark energy or maybe even a
stronger form of dark energy called
Phantom energy could increase the
distance between everything pulling
galaxies stars and even atoms apart
until nothing's left but
shreds All That Remains will be
fundamental particles floating alone in
a destroyed
Universe pretty tragic and then there's
the Big Crunch this idea says what if
the universe stops expanding and starts
shrinking instead gravity could
overpower Dark Energy pulling everything
back together in a cosmic collapse kind
of like a giant rubber band that
stretches as it expands but eventually
snaps back the universe collapses
galaxies will collide and merge
temperatures will Skyrocket and all
matter will be squeezed into an
impossibly small volume in the final
stages atoms will crush together
pressures will become infinitely intense
and the laws of physics as we know them
might break down
entirely the Big Crunch might even give
way to A New Beginning possibly leading
to another big
bang and finally there's vacuum Decay
now this one's a bit of a wild card
imagine you could find the darkest
coldest quietest place in the universe
no photons zipping around so there's no
light no protons or electrons around so
there's no matter you're pretty sure
that except for you there's nothing
there but wait that's not true even The
Emptiness of space contains a certain
minimum amount of energy like a
background hum so steady and faint that
even if you could hear it you wouldn't
notice it that's called the vacuum
energy State and it's like the floor
that the entire universe stands on but
what if even that goes away then there'd
truly be nothing and scientists think
that could happen maybe gradually maybe
really really fast that one minute the
universe will be here and the next it'll
be gone but how exactly would this even
happen a type of energy field called the
higs field that gives Mass to particles
in the universe and scientists think
it's possible but unlikely that the
vacuum energy of the higs field could
change and this very change could
produce a bubble of a true vacuum to
form and grow at the speed of light
destroying everything in its path and
leaving behind a fateful Universe with
no higs field where atoms can't even
hold
together so which theory is the most
likely right now the big freeze is the
most
supported and observations suggest the
universe will keep expanding getting
colder and darker until it reaches
maximum entropy a chaotic equilibrium
where everything is as random and spread
out as possible until an ultimate Frozen
silence but don't worry none of this
will happen for at least a few trillion
years so if you plan to be around maybe
bring a sweater
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