Big Rip

The Big Rip is a cosmological hypothesis about the ultimate fate of the Universe.

Related Topics:
Cosmological - Hypothesis - Ultimate fate of the Universe

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The hypothesis relies crucially on the type of dark energy in the universe. The key value is the equation of state w, the ratio between the dark energy pressure and its energy density. At w < -1, the universe will eventually be pulled apart. Such energy is called phantom energy, a more extreme form of quintessence.

Related Topics:
Dark energy - Universe - Equation of state - Ratio - Energy density - Phantom energy - Quintessence

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In a phantom energy dominated universe the "fabric" of the universe expands at an ever increasing rate. However, this implies that the size of the observable universe is continually shrinking; the distance to the edge of the universe which is moving away at the speed of light from any point gets ever closer. When the size of the observable universe is smaller than any particular structure, then no interaction between the furthest parts of the structure can occur, neither gravitational nor electromagnetic (nor weak or strong), and they will be ripped apart.

Related Topics:
Observable universe - Gravitational - Electromagnetic - Weak - Strong

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First, the galaxies would be separated from each other. This is what is happening right now, with galaxies that move outside the observable universe (approximately 13.7 billion lightyears away.) About 60 million years before the end, gravity would be too weak to hold the Milky Way and other individual galaxies together. Approximately three months before the end, the Solar system will be gravitationally unbound. In the last minutes, stars and planets will be torn apart, and an instant before the end, atoms will be destroyed.

Related Topics:
Galaxies - Milky Way - Solar system - Atom

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Because time is defined by the progression of observable processes, in absence of interactions, time effectively ends. The authors of this hypothesis calculate that the end of time would be approximately 35 billion years after the Big Bang, or 20 billion years from now.

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