
Scientists think the universe began with a bang. A big bang. The Big Bang theory (no, not the TV show) is the most widely accepted theory for how the universe started. How it will end…that’s a “dark” mystery.
Full Answer
Does the universe have a beginning and an end?
The usual story of the Universe has a beginning, middle, and an end. It began with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago when the Universe was tiny, hot, and dense.
How do you think the universe will end?
- Using iron, pycnonuclear science, and a computer, one scientist has scheduled the end of the universe.
- Today's bright, showy supernovae are huge stars, leaving small stars to smolder much longer.
- This research calculates when each size of star will begin to react.
Can We Survive the end of the universe?
The heat death of the universe refers to a state of maximum entropy, a condition under which no processes can occur. If there are still humans, then the universe has not yet reached heat death. So, no, by definition we cannot survive the heath death of the universe. Will the universe restart after heat death?
Will the universe come to an end?
The science is much less settled on how that will happen. We're not even sure if the universe will come to a firm, defined end, or just slowly tail off. Our best understanding of physics suggests there are several options for the universal apocalypse. It also offers some hints on how we might, just maybe, survive it.

How does the universe end?
In the unimaginably far future, cold stellar remnants known as black dwarfs will begin to explode in a spectacular series of supernovae, providing the final fireworks of all time. That's the conclusion of a new study, which posits that the universe will experience one last hurrah before everything goes dark forever.
How did the universe start?
Our universe began with an explosion of space itself - the Big Bang. Starting from extremely high density and temperature, space expanded, the universe cooled, and the simplest elements formed. Gravity gradually drew matter together to form the first stars and the first galaxies.
Does the universe have a beginning and end?
The usual story of the Universe has a beginning, middle, and an end. It began with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago when the Universe was tiny, hot, and dense.
When did universe will end?
22 billion years in the future is the earliest possible end of the Universe in the Big Rip scenario, assuming a model of dark energy with w = −1.5. False vacuum decay may occur in 20 to 30 billion years if the Higgs field is metastable.
What existed before space?
In the beginning, there was an infinitely dense, tiny ball of matter. Then, it all went bang, giving rise to the atoms, molecules, stars and galaxies we see today.
Who created a universe?
Many religious persons, including many scientists, hold that God created the universe and the various processes driving physical and biological evolution and that these processes then resulted in the creation of galaxies, our solar system, and life on Earth.
Does the past still exist?
In short, space-time would contain the entire history of reality, with each past, present or future event occupying a clearly determined place in it, from the very beginning and for ever. The past would therefore still exist, just as the future already exists, but somewhere other than where we are now present.
Will the universe restart after it dies?
There will be no movement or any form of energy, all particles of matter and anti-matter will be evenly spread from each other. The rate of change in this universe (delta time) will be at 0. And it will stay like that forever. Truly an infinite amount of time.
What is beyond the universe?
The trite answer is that both space and time were created at the big bang about 14 billion years ago, so there is nothing beyond the universe. However, much of the universe exists beyond the observable universe, which is maybe about 90 billion light years across.
How many universes are there?
In a new study, Stanford physicists Andrei Linde and Vitaly Vanchurin have calculated the number of all possible universes, coming up with an answer of 10^10^16.
What is space made of?
The Universe is thought to consist of three types of substance: normal matter, 'dark matter' and 'dark energy'. Normal matter consists of the atoms that make up stars, planets, human beings and every other visible object in the Universe.
Will the Big Rip happen?
The progression of time itself will stop. The model implies that after a finite time there will be a final singularity, called the "Big Rip", in which the observable universe eventually reaches zero size and all distances diverge to infinite values.
Does the universe have an end to it?
There is no evidence that the universe has an edge. The part of the universe we can observe from Earth is filled more or less uniformly with galaxies extending in every direction as far as we can see - more than 10 billion light-years, or about 6 billion trillion miles.
Can the universe have no beginning?
It predicts that the universe had no beginning, has no ending, but yet is finite œ in a similar sense as Hawking held that imaginary time would enable a closed universe to have no boundaries [11, 47]. As Hawking put it, the boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary.
Is there an edge or end to the universe?
As far as we can tell, there is no edge to the universe. Space spreads out infinitely in all directions. Furthermore, galaxies fill all of the space through-out the entire infinite universe. This conclusion is reached by logically combining two observations.
Can we see the beginning of the universe?
Since astronomers estimate the age of the universe at 13.8 billion years, all we have to be able to do is see something 13.8 billion light-years away, and we can see the beginning of time. The beginning of the universe.
What was the universe made of?
Initially, the universe was permeated only by energy. Some of this energy congealed into particles, which assembled into light atoms like hydrogen and helium. These atoms clumped first into galaxies, then stars, inside whose fiery furnaces all the other elements were forged.
How many times was the universe born?
According to their idea, called bouncing cosmology, the universe was born not just once, but possibly multiple times in endless cycles of contraction and expansion . The theory replaces the "big bang" with a "big bounce", which smoothly connects periods of contraction and expansion of the universe and solves many of the issues that plague the inflation theory.
What does Steinhardt worry about cosmology?
Steinhardt worries cosmologists are acting more as engineers than scientists. If an observation doesn't match the current model, they attach another component or tinker with existing ones to fit. The components aren't connected and there's no reason to add them except to match observations. It's like trying to fix an old car by adding new parts from newer but different models. Those parts may work in the short term, but eventually, you need a new car.
What do scientists see when they look up in the sky?
It is a powerful model that explains many of the things scientists see when they look up in the sky, such as the remarkable smoothness of space-time on large scales and the even distribution of galaxies on opposite sides of the universe. But there are things about this story that make some scientists uneasy.
What is the haunting possibility of scientists?
Even as the theories attempting to solve this mystery grow increasingly complex, scientists are haunted by the possibility that some of the most critical links in their chain of reasoning are wrong.
Is bouncing cosmology a possibility?
While controversial, bouncing cosmology raises the possibility that the universe is ageless and self-renewing. It is a prospect perhaps even more awe-inspiring than a universe with a definite beginning and end, for it would mean that the stars in the sky, even the oldest ones, are like short-lived fireflies in the grand scheme of things.
Who gave the beginning of time lecture?
Read the transcript of Stephen Hawking' s lecture on " The Beginning of Time ."
When did the universe expand?
About 13.8 billion years ago , everything was in an infinitely small point called a singularity until the Big Bang occurs. At that time, the Universe quickly expands from a point to a large structure of energy and cools down from an insanely hot temperature.
What happens if the expansion of the universe slows down?
If the expansion of the cosmos eventually slows down and stalls, it will go back to its original state, which is a singularity. If it’s true, the Big Bang that created the Universe might be due to the death of its predecessor. In that case, we might just be in one of the infinite amounts of universes ever made.
Why does star formation slow down?
That’s because when the Universe gets larger, materials generally become less dense, and star formation will significantly slow down until there are no stars left in the cosmos and star formation is impossible.
Why are the four forces separated?
Just a fraction of a second later, these four forces separated because the Universe is already large and cool enough.
Why is the Big Bounce theory important?
Secondly, it might continue expanding until everything goes out. That’s because when the Universe gets larger, materials generally become less dense, ...
What happened to the universe after the Big Bang?
Since the Big Bang, the universe has been expanding. In the early years, everything was made of gas. This gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, expanded and cooled. Over billions of years, gravity caused gas and dust to form galaxies, stars , planets, and more.
How old is the universe?
Astronomers have figured out that the universe is about 13 billion years old. (We’d better skip the candles on the birthday cake!) They have also determined, approximately, when different cosmic events happened, such as when our galaxy and our planet formed.
What did Hubble discover?
He realized that faint, cloud-like objects in the night sky are actually other galaxies far, far away. The Milky Way is just one of billions of galaxies.
How long ago was the Big Bang?
The Big Bang was the moment 13.8 billion years ago when the universe began as a tiny, dense, fireball that exploded. Most astronomers use the Big Bang theory to explain how the universe began. But what caused this explosion in the first place is still a mystery.
What would you see if it was a clear night?
If it's a clear night, you might see hundreds of thousands of tiny points of light, too numerous to count. Some are planets, some are stars, and some are even galaxies! Where did all these cosmic objects come from? Discover the answer below and play a game!
Who was the astronomer who observed distant galaxies?
Discover the answer below and play a game! Edwin Hubble looking through the telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory in 1924. In the 1920s in California, astronomer Edwin Hubble observed distant galaxies using an extremely powerful telescope . He made two mind-boggling discoveries.
Is the Milky Way expanding?
Second, Hubble discovered that the galaxies are constantly moving away from each other. In other words, the universe is expanding. The biggest thing that we know about is getting bigger all the time.
What is the final possibility for the universe's end?
The final basic possibility for the universe's end is known as the Big Rip. In this scenario, dark energy — the mysterious substance that acts in opposition to gravity — pulls everything apart piece by piece. The cosmos' expansion accelerates until distant galaxies are moving away from us so quickly that their light can no longer be seen. As the expansion quickens, ever-closer objects begin to disappear behind what Caldwell described as a "wall of darkness."
What would happen if the universe collapsed?
In the first scenario — the universe bows out of existence due to heat death — all the stars in the cosmos will burn up their fuel , with most of them leaving behind dense remnants known as white dwarfs and neutron stars. The largest stars would collapse into black holes. While these beasts are not as ravenous as they are often portrayed to be, given enough time, their massive gravitational attraction would draw most matter into their all-consuming maws.
What would happen if the Higgs were to decay?
If the Higgs were to somehow decay into a lower mass, then the universe would fall into a lower-energy true vacuum state.
How long after the Big Bang will we live?
Once things cooled down enough, particles began to form larger structures like galaxies, stars and all life on Earth. We are currently living approximately 13 billion years after the universe's start, but, given the different scenarios for its demise, it's unclear how much longer the universe will persist.
How long will black holes last?
After 10-to-the-100 years (that's the number 1 followed by 100 zeros), all black holes will dissipate, leaving behind nothing but inert energy, according to Kevin Pimbblet, an astrophysicist at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom.
Why is the mass of the Higgs 126 times that of the proton?
But it's theoretically possible for that mass to change. That's because the universe might not be in its lowest possible energy configuration right now.
Did the Universe Have a Beginning?
In 1823, the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers noted that if the universe were infinite, static, and eternal, as was believed at the time, the sky would be blinding white light—because in an infinite universe, there would be an infinite number of stars. Every line of sight would end at a star.
After the Big Bang
After the initial Big Bang explosion, the universe was incredibly hot, meaning that particles were moving too quickly to merge together to form protons, neutrons, atoms, and molecules. But as the universe expanded, it began to cool, and the particles slowed down.
What is the theory that the universe has existed for ever?
Perhaps the best known was proposed in 1948. It was called the steady state theory, and it suggested that the universe had existed for ever and would have looked the same at all times. This last property had the great virtue of being a prediction that could be tested, a critical ingredient of the scientific method.
When was the universe dense?
Observational evidence to confirm the idea that the universe had a very dense beginning came in October 1965, with the discovery of a faint background of microwaves throughout space. The only reasonable interpretation is that this “cosmic microwave background” is radiation left over from an early hot and dense state.
What was the name of the god that vomited up the Sun?
According to the Boshongo people of central Africa, before us there was only darkness, water and the great god Bumba . One day Bumba, in pain from a stomach ache, vomited up the Sun. The Sun evaporated some of the water, leaving land.
How did inflation affect the universe?
Inflation made the universe very large, very smooth and very flat. However, it was not completely smooth: there were tiny variations from place to place. These variations eventually gave rise to galaxies, stars and solar systems. We owe our existence to these variations.
What would happen if Einstein's theory of relativity was correct?
With Roger Penrose of Oxford University, I showed that if Albert Einstein ’s general theory of relativity is correct, then there would be a singularity, a point of infinite density and space-time curvature, where time has a beginning. The universe started off in the Big Bang and expanded quickly.
What book was Stephen Hawking's Origin of Everything in?
This story by Stephen Hawking was originally published as the introduction of the New Scientist book The Origin of (Almost) Everything
When was the first scientific evidence discovered?
When it comes to these mysteries of existence, the first scientific evidence was discovered in the 1920s, when Edwin Hubble began to make observations with a telescope on Mount Wilson in California. To his surprise, Hubble found that nearly all the galaxies were moving away from us.
How would the end times affect the universe?
First, as the end times approach, the beings would need to store a finite amount of energy in the universe; they would then use half this energy to power their thoughts (the only remains of their super-advanced lives).
What would happen if the universe was accelerated?
A similar thing happens to a universe with relentless acceleration: Galaxies would be destroyed, the solar system would unbind and eventually all the planets would burst asunder as the rapid expansion of space rips apart its very atoms. Finally, our universe would end in an explosion, a singularity of literally infinite energy.
What is the oldest light we can see?
Braden is part of a research team trying to predict what such a signature would look like. Their prime target is the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the oldest light scientists can see, which dates back to when the universe was just 380,000 years old. The team hopes that perhaps a little blip on the otherwise uniform CMB would betray the existence of such a false vacuum in the distant past, as well as provide the first concrete evidence for a multiverse.
How long will it take for the Big Rip to happen?
Current theories predict that if this so-called Big Rip is in our future, it will take another 22 billion years to arrive. But there are still many details to fill in, and scientists like Vanderbilt University mathematician Marcelo Disconzi will provide those details. His work originally focused on bulk viscosity — the measurement of a fluid’s resistance to expansion or contraction — and how moving fluids behave when approaching the speed of light. (That can happen in extreme astronomical situations, such as an exploding star.) No one had successfully modeled how a viscous fluid would act at relativistic speeds, but working with colleagues in the Vanderbilt physics department, Disconzi successfully did it.
Why does the universe stop growing?
At some point, the universe might stop growing because of the gravitational pull of all the matter inside of it, and then it would start to collapse back into itself. The final result would be a universe that reaches a tiny singularity, a dark reflection of the Big Bang.
What does viscosity tell us about the universe?
For decades, scientists had been trying to link mainstream physics’ understanding of viscosity with a related concept: cosmic viscosity, which tells us about the universe’s resistance to accelerating expansion.
What is the dark future called?
This dark future is known as the Big Freeze. Dark energy is so baffling that it has taken the better part of two decades to understand the theory enough to even design experiments to study it, let alone figure out if the Big Freeze lies in our future. (Not that we could do anything about it if it did, of course.)

How Did The Universe Start?
How Will The Universe End?
- There isn’t a single hypothesis that can explain what will happen when the Universe dies. However, there are some pretty sensible explanations about that. Firstly, the Universe might collapse into a single point. If the expansion of the cosmos eventually slows down and stalls, it will go back to its original state, which is a singularity. If it’s t...
Conclusion
- In this article, we’ve talked about how did the Universe begin and how will it end. If we missed any important points, feel free to leave them in the comments below. Moreover, if you want to know more, visit the websites in the references below.
References and Credits
- (2014, May 7). The Story of Our Universe | NASA. Retrieved June 24, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/multimedia/pia16876b.html
- (2019, January 4). The Five Ways The Universe Might End – Forbes. Retrieved June 24, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/01/04/the-five-ways-the-universe-might-end/
- (2014, May 7). The Story of Our Universe | NASA. Retrieved June 24, 2021, from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/multimedia/pia16876b.html
- (2019, January 4). The Five Ways The Universe Might End – Forbes. Retrieved June 24, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/01/04/the-five-ways-the-universe-might-end/
- (n.d.). The early universe | CERN. Retrieved June 24, 2021, from https://home.cern/science/physics/early-universe
- (2019, February 20). Three ways the universe could end – Venus Keus – YouTube. Retrieved June 24, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itpLU7OzNV8