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How will the world end? While some, like Robert Frost, have waxed poetic about the end of life on Earth—fire or ice—others have been looking to science to solve the mystery. Even still, others have been looking at the bigger picture, trying to figure out when the entire universe will end. Now, a new study claims that the universe itself might start shrinking within the next 7 billion years, leading to what scientists call “the Big Crunch.”
The study was published by physicists from Cornell University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and several other institutions. Using data collected from many different astronomical surveys, including the Dark Energy Survey, the researchers have created a new model that predicts our universe will end with what scientists have long theorized will be a “Big Crunch.” The model suggests the universe will end roughly 33.3 billion years after the Big Bang.
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Using that date, the researchers then began looking backward. So far, the universe is estimated to be around 13.8 billion years old. Based on that number and the model’s prediction of when the universe will end, we have roughly 20 billion years before the universe collapses in on itself. This study, and the theory of the “Big Crunch,” challenges long held assumptions that the universe will expand forever, eventually leading to a “Big Freeze.”
Instead, the researchers estimate that the universe will continue to expand for another 7 billion years. At that point, the universe will then begin contracting. Essentially, it will collapse in on itself until a single point remains, destroying everything. It’s an interesting and somewhat terrifying theory, even if we aren’t expecting it to happen in our lifetime.
One easy way to think about it is to imagine the universe as a massive rubber band. As the universe expands, the rubber band stretches. But then it eventually reaches a point where it can’t be stretched anymore, forcing the band to become stronger than its expansion force. This then causes everything to snap back together.
It’s a bit of a sad way for the universe to end, and I can’t imagine what it would actually look like if there was any way to see it taking place. Luckily, it’s not really something we have to worry about, and this research is far from actual confirmation that this is what will happen. For all we know, the theories could be incorrect, and the universe could indeed keep expanding forever.
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