• Question: Is the universe going to end as the big rip, big crunch or big freeze?

    Asked by 47liger98 to Ashley, Bernard, Carsten, MariaMagdalena, Monique on 7 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by Nat612, EMINEM, 926tntd38.
    • Photo: Monique Henson

      Monique Henson answered on 7 Nov 2015:

      At the moment, the best evidence we have suggests the universe will end in the big freeze. We know that the universe is expanding – when we look at distant objects we see that they are all moving away from us. In the big freeze scenario, the universe keeps expanding forever, which means it keeps getting colder and colder. Eventually, there won’t be enough fuel for stars to form and shine, which means the universe will get darker and darker.

      Why do we think it will end in a big freeze? By looking at light from the early universe (the Cosmic Microwave Background), we can figure out the shape of the universe. From that we think that the universe is flat (as opposed to ball shaped or something else). In a flat universe gravity isn’t strong enough to pull everything back together again for the big crunch. Instead, the expansion overtakes gravity and the universe just expands forever.

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