Is it that theory that the universe goes in cycles? Starts with a big bang then ends in a big crunch only to explode out again? If so, what are the mechanisms that cause the big crunch? What force could be strong enough to pull the entire universe back in on itself?
2006-09-19 04:21:08 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
well depending on the mass in the universe, gravity could act as a brake and pull things back to a crunch. current theory has the expansion continuing and the universe cooling and getting dark to nothing but cold dead object. Of course, there could be billions of other universes, and or thoery could be wrong.
2006-09-19 04:24:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, the Big Bang theory, and later the 'inflationary Model' hypothesized that the universe is still expanding, but the expansion is slowing down due to the force of gravity. This seemed to fit the observations. So, the big question was:
* will the expansion continue to slow down, but never stop, leading to the ultimate 'heat death' of the universe?
* Would the expansion stop, resulting in a static universe (very unlikely)?
* Would gravity prevail, stop the expansion, then pull all the matter back together in a singularity? (Big Crunch)
A correlary to the Big Crunch is the idea that once the crunch occurred, another 'Big Bang' would occur, starting the whole process over again. This has ariously been referred to as the 'Cyclical Universe'. or the 'Pulsating Universe' hypothesis.
The critical piece of knowledge in figuring this stuff out is the mass of all the matter in the universe. This has gotten a lot more complicated in recent years, as it was realized that there wasn't enough 'visible' matter in the observeable universe to account for the way that galaxies are behaving... so 'dark matter' was postulated. More recently, it was discovered that about 8 billion years ago (maybe 4 billion... I forget, and I'm too lazy to look it up), the expansion of the universe... which HAD BEEN slowing... had begun to SPEED UP. That resulted in the idea of 'dark energy'... an unknown force that works in opposition to gravity.
The bottom line is that nobody knows how it's going to end, nobody knows whether dark matter or dark energy really exist, or (if it does exist) what it is comprised of.
Don't despair, though... we've only been at this for less than 80 years... since Hubble found that there were additional galaxies beyond ours, and that the universe is expanding. In another 100 - to - 500 years, we should have it pretty well figured out.
2006-09-19 04:39:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you got the basics correct. One possible scenario is that the various black holes will absorb more and more matter, increasing their gravitational force, until they start pulling each other together, eventually gobbling up all the matter in the universe. For more details, consult "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" by Douglas Adams.
2006-09-19 11:26:01 · answer #3 · answered by robertspraguejr 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the universe is not expanding fast enough, gravity will pull it back together again.
2006-09-19 04:23:46 · answer #4 · answered by nondescript 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, but this is most likely not true since the universe is still expanding faster than ever and will most likely not ever contract.
2006-09-19 04:40:41 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
when the ramen isnt cooked and eaten raw.
praise to fsm!!
2006-09-19 04:23:31 · answer #6 · answered by psychstudent 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
gravity,
2006-09-19 04:23:09 · answer #7 · answered by Rob 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
that would be gravity
2006-09-19 04:26:36 · answer #8 · answered by buttercup 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋