You know when you’re lying in bed and trip out in your existential thoughts about the universe so you stay up till 3am and research it’s theoretical demise instead of writing your thesis … yeah well that was me last night. Here we go babies.
The end of the world. Define world… your family, money… earth…. the universe itself!?! Eventually they will all die. In the smaller schemes of day to day human life, the things that composite our worlds have varying expiries; love, life, careers… but the end of Earth itself will create one huge expiry stamp on such human engagements of purpose and meaning.
It is well known that one day Earth will come to an end. By comet, by a sun drawing closer, by the sun star itself dying, by the future AI that will overrun us or by the aliens waiting beneath our tectonic plates à la ‘War of the Worlds’. Perhaps, shockingly (*detect sarcasm*), the Earth, indeed, will be destroyed by humanity itself.
But what about the universe? Will the universe last forever ?
No. The toughest life lesson is definitely that absolutely everything is finite. Even the universe. This is, of course, if the reality we exist in ACTUALLY heavily demands on the human-decoded nature/law of physics.. and if such physics are even valid. Stephen Hawking, you the boss.
Anyway, here are three ways the universe might end. The fucking UNIVERSE. My heart is crying for the trillions of stars that will fade to dust in x zillion years
1. Ice cold baby.
The universe is expanding and despite gravity’s attempt to pull galaxies closer together, the mysterious and fundamental forces of dark energy (of which humanity has yet to debunk, and is still theoretical) is opposing the force of gravity. This means that all the materials required for Star formation (see earlier post to see how stars are made💫) would become too far away from each other. Existing stars would eventually run out of fuel and there would be no new stars to replace them. Ironically- the cataclysmic death of a star (supernovae explosions) is what helps create new ones as the essential star ingredients are released back into the universe. Side note: how pretty that even the stars mirror our human cycle of life and death with the soil that nurtures us. Anyway, if there are no new stars in the universe – it would be pitch black and cold. Once the temperature reaches absolute zero, not a single atom would be able to move. The universe would become a static void. Forever.
2. You’re tearing me apart, Lisa
If the strength of this theoretical dark energy became robust enough to nullify the force of gravity entirely (instead of just opposing it as in the previous theory) the universe would tear apart. Dark energy would rip galaxies, planets and stars apart and black holes would disintegrate. As the expansion of the universe grew rapidly, every piece of atomic matter would collapse in on itself and decay into radiation. The universe would be filled with specks of singular particles…. but could it come back to life? I find this interesting, perhaps this has happened before for all we know. I like this theory the best – more dramatic but with a teaser ending of hope.
3. The force vs dark energy
If the force of gravity was able to fight back and overthrow the dark energy (fuck you, Sith Lord- we want hot Anakin back, sorry impulsive but necessary assimilation) the universe would stop expanding and instead begin to shrink. Stars would collide, planets, including earth, would have little room as galaxies began to merge. The whole universe would condense into one singularity. From this powerful little ultra beam of energy, the universe could definitely be renewed. This is reminiscent of the Big Bang. This one is exciting – sort of like reverse time travel… the universe realising that it kind of got it wrong this time and wanting a fresh start with its planet, Star and species evolution.
Ultimately, it seems that understanding dark energy is critical – in particular, it’s polar relationship with gravity.
More funding for astrophysics people!!! One day we will need it. Or maybe we should just let the universe do it’s magical thing. Create a new species that tries so hard to understand itself and the world around it somewhat in vain if we consider these theories but completely integral to life in the small moments of time we are alive.
Xxxx
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