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The issue with this view is that in the universe we see today the gravitational force is not strong enough to do what you describe here. There is acceleration o
by tyfon 6y ago
The issue with this view is that in the universe we see today the gravitational force is not strong enough to do what you describe here. There is acceleration of the expansion i.e. energy is added to the system (in the form of vacuum energy possibly).
To say it in another way, the energy used to expand the universe today is not only the initial force imparted by the big bang but is added to as part of quantum processes in empty space. However as the universe expands, the amount of matter (dark + luminous) does not increase so the proportion of gravity/matter to dark energy (the force that accelerates the expansion) is getting lower and we get an acceleration.
These observations exclude the possibility of a "big crunch".
Disclaimer: I am a statistician not a cosmologist but this is how I have understood it.
- Johnjonjoan 6y agoCheers, I now understand why it's not such a clear case. I fear I may have many more harder to answer questions now though - Thanks none the less!
- GioM 6y agoTake the idea a little further, to the end of the universe, and the rate of acceleration of expansion of space increases so much that stars become isolated from each other, then planets from stars, then molecules from each other, then atoms, and then quarks, the constituents of matter itself, and then.... An interesting thing happens. When you tear a quark away from it's antiquark, you get two quarks. The energy is equal to that required to bring another quark into existence. At this point, the rate of expansion is so vast that every quark in the universe has been forever isolated from one another, and then each bursts into a sea of high-energy quark-gluon plasma. The massive energy of expansion is rapidly consumed generating these quarks, and then the expansion slows, never stopping, but continues at a much slower rate. Wait... we've seen this before. A quark-gluon plasma, rapidly expanding from a single point, in a universe isolated from all others. Only expansion is required to generate new universes, forever.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]