Is there enough gravity in the universe for all bodies to reverse travel and end up in a reverse big bang?

Answer 1

I think the amount of matter in our universe decides whether it will continue expanding and go cold, or have a reverse effect and collapse back into it's self to a point that is infinitely small. The recent discovery of dark matter is helping decide this.

Dark matter was found to have existed in every galaxy for the amount of visible matter would not be sufficient to keep them from flying apart. Dark matter is named such for we cannot see it, it doesn't emit light. It does make up about 90% of total mass in our universe though!

I personally believe that our universe will snap back, for I don't think anything can go on forever. It could happen like a balloon that won't break. You continue blowing it up and when you reach the point where it won't any further, you let it go and it deflates much quicker than you blew it up.

Try checking out the BBC's Science and Nature section.

Answer 2

Actually that's the Big Question in physics at the moment. Since the expansion of the universe actually seems to be speeding up, the current best bet is that things will continue to fly away from each other till their gravity is no longer enough to attract over a distance, and the universe will just sort of peter out as a bunch of burned-out stars thinly scattered through a dark immensity.

On the other hand, if the expansion slows down, then gravity could have a chance to pull everything together again, possibly resulting in a new Big Bang that would start it all over again.

Answer 3

The best estimates of Omega, the cosmological density paramter, give it a value very close to 1, which would predict a "flat" universe that expands for ever, but comes to a rest at infinite time (as tmie approaches inifinity). When Omega > 1 the universe is open and expands forver, and Omega < 1 means the universe is within its own Schwarzschild radius and all paths eventually lead to a common singularity ("big crunch").

While recent data suggest the universe is slightly more open than flat, the current precision of our measurements cannot conclusively say the universe is open.

Answer 4

I would think that if they could reverse right back to the start, that would prove the big bang wrong. What could make the matter actually reverse direction after such a blast no matter how much time has past?
And since everything is matter, it would only make a huge black hole.

Answer 5

I don't know, but according to some theories, the answer is No, due to dark energy. Dark energy will thump gravity and cause the universe to expand at an increasing rate.

Answer 6

Its is a theory that this will happen, its called the big crunch, but everything currently seems to be expanding. We dont really have enough info to say, because we dont know how much matter there is. There is also huge parts of space, that appears to have nothing in it, but by the way objects move by it, it is predicted to be dark matter. dark matter we think is matter, but not visible to the human eye.So its possible, but we really have no way to know.

Answer 7

No.

WMAP found that the universe is composed of 74% dark energy.

The universe, unless things change dramatically, will not collapse upon itself, but will continue to expand faster and faster.

Answer 8

its called the big crunch although this theory is not very accepted because the expansion rate is speeding up. And it is actually an antigravity that will supposedly cause it.

Answer 9

Everything is flying apart now, whether it slows down and recollapses due to gravity is still debated.

Answer 10

I dont know. I dont see why not. Why would you need "enough"? Whats counteracting it? Nothing I know of. Seems like any gravity would eventually be enough.