Not only are scientists unsure how the universe will end, they aren't even sure it will end at all.
Several possibilities for the fate of our universe have been bandied about. They tend to have names such as Big Crunch, Big Rip and Big Freeze. Ultimately, space could collapse back in on itself, destroying all stars and galaxies in existence, or it could expand into essentially an endless void.
It seems that knowing more about dark matter will give some insight into the answer.
"The truth is that it's still an open scenario," said astrophysicist Steve Allen of Stanford University. "We certainly don't know for sure what's going to happen."
On the brighter side, any eventuality will take billions or even trillions of years to occur, long after our great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren should be past caring.
The collapse of the universe inward is called "the Big Crunch" hypothesis. It suggests that the expansion of the universe will eventually halt and reverse, leading to a collapse of all matter back into a hot, dense state. However, current observations suggest that the universe is actually expanding at an accelerating rate, which makes a Big Crunch less likely.
The theory that suggests the universe may eventually shrink is often referred to as the "Big Crunch" hypothesis. This concept posits that after expanding, the universe could reverse its expansion due to gravitational forces, ultimately leading to a collapse. While this idea is one of several scenarios regarding the universe's fate, current observations indicate that the universe's expansion is accelerating, making the Big Crunch less likely.
The big bang theory is the explosion that started the universe. Where as the big crunch is the theory where the universe will eventually contract and become increasingly clumped and eventaully all mater would collapse into black holes which would then coalesce producing a unified black hole or Big Crunch singularity.
1. The universe will keep expanding forever 2. The expansion of the universe will gradually slow down, and the universe will approach a limit in size. 3. The universe will stop expanding and start to fall back in on itself.
If gravity dominated the expansion of the universe, the universe would eventually stop expanding and begin to contract. This would lead to a "Big Crunch" scenario where all matter in the universe collapses back into a hot, dense state.
The collapse of the universe inward is called "the Big Crunch" hypothesis. It suggests that the expansion of the universe will eventually halt and reverse, leading to a collapse of all matter back into a hot, dense state. However, current observations suggest that the universe is actually expanding at an accelerating rate, which makes a Big Crunch less likely.
If "the Big Crunch" refers to the theory that the universe will eventually end in all matter and energy being slowly squeezed back into its position it was before the Big Bang, then your question sort of makes no sense. If it is true, then it will last for as long as it has to until it is in "a crunch." And, in fact, many scientists are throwing away the Big Crunch Theory and instead proposing the universe is expanding and expanding faster as time progresses, and also space will collapse in on itself or something like that.
The concept of the Big Crunch theory was primarily developed by physicist George Gamow in the 1940s, building upon the expanding universe theory proposed by Georges Lemaître and Edwin Hubble. It suggests that the universe could eventually stop expanding and collapse back into a hot, dense state, leading to a potential "crunch" where all matter is squeezed into a tiny space.
The theory that suggests the universe may eventually shrink is often referred to as the "Big Crunch" hypothesis. This concept posits that after expanding, the universe could reverse its expansion due to gravitational forces, ultimately leading to a collapse. While this idea is one of several scenarios regarding the universe's fate, current observations indicate that the universe's expansion is accelerating, making the Big Crunch less likely.
The big bang theory is the explosion that started the universe. Where as the big crunch is the theory where the universe will eventually contract and become increasingly clumped and eventaully all mater would collapse into black holes which would then coalesce producing a unified black hole or Big Crunch singularity.
1. the universe continues to keep expanding 2. the universe slowly stops expanding 3. big crunch (basically the universe will stop expanding and fall back into itself)
The Big Bang refers to the event that created the universe. It is not expected to happen again as the universe is already expanding and evolving from that initial event. However, there are theories like the Big Crunch or Big Rip which describe possible future scenarios for the universe.
That would be a sign that the Universe is contracting, instead of expanding as it currently is.That would be a sign that the Universe is contracting, instead of expanding as it currently is.That would be a sign that the Universe is contracting, instead of expanding as it currently is.That would be a sign that the Universe is contracting, instead of expanding as it currently is.
1. The universe will keep expanding forever 2. The expansion of the universe will gradually slow down, and the universe will approach a limit in size. 3. The universe will stop expanding and start to fall back in on itself.
If gravity dominated the expansion of the universe, the universe would eventually stop expanding and begin to contract. This would lead to a "Big Crunch" scenario where all matter in the universe collapses back into a hot, dense state.
Answer: I don't believe that any consensus has been reached, although it seems that more people are arguing that a "big crunch" is more likely that an endless expansion into increasing entropy. But this is definitely a question that you should ask again in about 15 years. Answer number 2: The ever-expanding Universe. The main reason this seems likely is that it has been observed that the expansion of the Universe is actually accelerating - i.e., it is expanding faster now than in the past. Answer number 3 : I agree with answer 2. The discovery of "dark energy" and the increasing rate of expansion of space favors the ever expanding Universe.
The "Big Crunch" idea was that the expansion would eventually stop and the universe would collapse. All evidence today says no way. The "Yo-Yo" says the universe repeatedly expand, collpses and then expands again of a roughly 70 billion year cycle. There is no evidence for this. The "Big Rip" says the universe will simply expand forever, with other galaxies gradually getting so far away that they fade in the distance, and then stars burn out and everything gets cold and dark forever.