1.The Big Crunch- a state in which Dark Matter(which creates gravity) prevails over Dark Energy(which creates a kind of antigravity)and all the matter in the Universe comes together at the singularity from which it all came form and colapses in on itself.
2.The Big Rip- The exact opposite of the Big Crunch, Dark Energy Prevails over Dark Matter, the antigravitation is so great that even the fabric of space and time will tear apart.
3.Steady State- The amount of Dark Matter and Dark Energy are equal. The Universe will continue expand and will eventually stop.
4.The Big Chill 1- Dark Energy is slightly more powerful than Dark Matter. The Universe will continue to expand until there is no matter left.
5. The Big Chill 2- The Universe will keep expanding. The expansion will slow down, but never stop.
In a separate thread (I can't remember which one it was, though), we were moving towards the consensus that either of the Big Chills were more likely the case, with the qualifier that it was still a close call.
What I'm interested in is your use of 'dark matter' and 'dark energy'. Where does this come from?
I asked for scientific endings, I didnt want to include religious endings because there are many religions and they each have a different ending. Also, this topic is being talked about somewhere else.
The universe will end how it ends. Nothing we do will be able to stop or change it, so why not just live for now and not worry about it? It's inevitable, however it will happen. As far as my personal beliefs? I believe in the big freeze. Or big chill as you're calling it. To me... it's simply the end of everything. It's God's final act. Everything must end. God will let everything rest.
You know, just a few years ago dark matter was just that - matter that was dark. Scientists assumed it must be just lots and lots of matter that was either dead stars (like white, brown, and black dwarfs) or intergalactic material that never really found a home. Now dark matter seems to have a much different and more pronounced effect on its surrounding than regular matter, making it an "exotic matter." I can't really have a personal opinion on the end of the universe because I understand neither the math nor the physics behind the main calculations that have to do with the "break point" in the universe's expansion. But the most recent stuff I've heard suggests the universe expanding indefinitely.
I'd have to say that "The Big Chill 1" sounds like the most realistic way the world would end. I don't know much about Dark Matter and Dark Energy but I don't think our universe will collapse upon itself or tear itself to shreds. Even if it does it wont happen for most likely billions of years.
By then we will probably have found a way to do universal travel and find new lifeforms elsewhere. I mean Its a very slim chance that we are the only lifeforms in existence. There has to be other planets that can support life there just has to be.
I wish we would live long enough to see this amazing scientific breakthrough but eh we will be the ones that help it for the future. We won't be able to see intergalactic lifeforms but maybe our childrens children can.
One thing we must consider when talking about the end of the universe is heat death - the distribution of thermodynamic energy evenly throughout the universe so that no work can be done, as there is no greater force capable of doing work. The law of inertia will tell us that unless a greater force acts on something than the forces keeping it still, it will not move. Thusly, if all energy is distributed evenly, no work can be done.
To reword what I just said, as a finite universe may be considered an isolated system, it may be subject to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, (meaning that the entropy of the universe is ever-increasing and is the reason why things do and don't happen spontaneously) so that its total entropy is constantly increasing. It has been speculated that the universe is fated to a heat death in which all the energy ends up as a homogeneous distribution of thermal energy, so that no more work can be extracted from any source.
