The Big Rip: New Theory Ends Universe By Shredding Everything!

This theory is extremely thought provking and traumatic! I don't think it's been posted on ATS as yet, so here it is. We've heard of the 'Big Crunch'. But a 'Big Rip?'

A rather harrowing new theory about the death of the universe paints a picture of "phantom energy" ripping apart galaxies, stars, planets and eventually every speck of matter in a fantastical end to time.

Scientifically it is just about the most repulsive notion ever conceived.

The speculative but serious cosmology is described as a "pretty fantastic possibility" even by its lead author, Robert Caldwell of Dartmouth University. It explains one possible outcome for solid astronomical observations made in the late 1990s -- that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing pace, and that something unknown is vacuuming everything outward.

The question Caldwell and his colleagues posed is, what would happen if the rate of acceleration increased?

Their answer is that the eventual, phenomenal pace would overwhelm the normal, trusted effects of gravity right down to the local level. Even the nuclear forces that bind things in the subatomic world will cease to be effective.

"The expansion becomes so fast that it literally rips apart all bound objects," Caldwell explained in a telephone interview. "It rips apart clusters of galaxies. It rips apart stars. It rips apart planets and solar systems. And it eventually rips apart all matter."

He calls it, as you might guess, the Big Rip.

Wow! And what after that?

www.space.com...



[edit on 6-7-2007 by mikesingh]

This is the worst theory i have heard yet.



ERm.. i thought the universe expansion was SLOWING DOWN!!!

am i right or am i right?

(ok here no comes the not so sure part of my character)... Or am i wrong?

Originally posted by DaRAGE
This is the worst theory i have heard yet.
ERm.. i thought the universe expansion was SLOWING DOWN!!!

am i right?......

Who knows? All's theory and conjecture. Even the darn so called Big Bang is a theory!! Like those elusive Black Holes....and Pulsars...and Quasars...and..

Cheers

This theory is based on some unknown force 'vacuuming' everything in the Universe outwards, which wouldn't suggest a natural force. Unless of course billions of black holes, which I think anyone would agree is highly unlikely.

As with the previous poster, I was also at the assumption that the Universe is infact slowing down, not speeding up.

I think that a more likely end of the Universe scenario would be likened to a balloon deflating. As it is inflated, that is the Universe expanding, but once it cannot expand any further, then it starts to deflate until it collapses into itself.

That's the way I think it will happen.

[edit on 6-7-2007 by Zanzibar]

Originally posted by DaRAGE
This is the worst theory i have heard yet.



ERm.. i thought the universe expansion was SLOWING DOWN!!!

am i right or am i right?

(ok here no comes the not so sure part of my character)... Or am i wrong?

You're wrong. The Universal expansion is actually accelerating.

[edit on 6-7-2007 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by DaRAGE
This is the worst theory i have heard yet.
ERm.. i thought the universe expansion was SLOWING DOWN!!!

am i right or am i right?

(ok here no comes the not so sure part of my character)... Or am i wrong?

"You're wrong."² The universe is expanding and this expansion is not slowing down, but accelerating. Everything is becoming farther apart from each other as time goes on, it is now known. The information that the universe is contracting or expansion is slowing down is so "old school" lol.



[edit on 7/6/2007 by greatlakes]

With the continued and furthered acceleration of the expansion it is likely that galaxies would be pulled apart and create more galaxies, however this is where I would stop. I don't think that the acceleration is an end of the universe, but rather the growth of the universe and the creation of new galaxies from existing ones.

will the growth of the universe ever stop? no one knows but i think not.

And all this comparing the universe to a balloon is just retarded.
The universe is not a balloon.

I just watched a television show on the Science Channel about the various ways in which Earth may be destroyed, eventually. They closed the program with The Big Rip theory. I'm no physicist or mathematician, however, so there are parts where it becomes difficult for me to comment.

I understand the idea that the universe is still expanding at a faster and faster pace, that the expansion is accelerating. The thinkers behind The Big Rip used a balloon as an example, putting a few marks on the surface of the balloon and blowing it up. After a few huffs and puffs, the marks on the surface of the balloon were farther apart than they were previously. This seems to be a perfect example of what is happening to our universe, doesn't it?

Okay, but i dont know if the universe is like a balloon in that it has an edge, or a membrane. What about the things inside the balloon? Would they be growing apart as well?

Even the darn so called Big Bang is a theory

define:theory
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"


define:hypothesis
a tentative theory about the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"; "he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices"


define:model
a hypothetical description of a complex entity or process; "the computer program was based on a model of the circulatory and respiratory systems"

The Big Bang is a Model, not a Theory or Hypothesis. Sorry misnomers piss me of, nothing personal.

[edit on 7-7-2007 by sardion2000]

One of my biggest gripes with attempts to explain the universe is that so much of it is based upon theory, after theory after theory with little way to prove anything. What if one of those underlying theories is wrong?

It's not that I'm against thinking out of the box - I think it's wonderful when we manage to prove our thinking as being correct.

For all we know the universe may be flat.

The big rip does sound interesting through and sits as well with me as the big bang and the big crunch.

Originally posted by Where2Hide2006
And all this comparing the universe to a balloon is just retarded.
The universe is not a balloon.

Ha, it's just a loose example for comparisons sake, no worse than saying the phrase is mentally handicapped

Originally posted by sardion2000

The Big Bang is a Model, not a Theory or Hypothesis. Sorry misnomers piss me of, nothing personal.

Yeah right! The Big Bang is a model really, but unfortunately it's been called the Big Bang Theory even in scientific circles! A misnomer if ever there was one!

The Big Bang theory developed from observations of the structure of the universe and from theoretical considerations.

From the History of the Big Bang theory
Wikipedia

There's more where they call it a 'theory'. Here's one from a NASA site..

liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov...

More...
www.big-bang-theory.com...

But how do you figure THIS one out? What else but another NASA site?

The Big Bang Model is a broadly accepted theory for the origin and evolution of our universe.

map.gsfc.nasa.gov...

Model or Theory?? Now I'm pissed off too!!

Cheers!

This Big rip does seem more probable than the Big freeze though.

Good Thread

The mind opening thread here I like it So with everything our greatest minds know, they still really dont know much. When you try to measure the universe it seems odd to me that we can say anything really?
How do you measure the universe first off? Second when we do measure this, how do we know that the information is not distorted? Prehaps by some unknown force, the measurement would seem to say the universe is expanding or the universe is slowing down. Anything we might find to measure is a device created here on earth that only shares our earthly physics? I dont get how such a small race of humans can think they can measure the universe? When we sertinly dont know much about our own solar system. Sure tons of text and books, but have you been there personally? Besides pictures taken by probes, and human measurement devices, we are really in the dark.. So for someone to say your dead wrong about this or that is just silly to me.. No one really knows for sure yet!! And thats about as honest as we can get here.. So keep up the good work using that nogin of yours I like to hear it from all sides, and at every angle.

[edit on 8-7-2007 by zysin5]

I like how that picture shows the Universe being ripped apart. If that's an artistic view of how it would look, then what's the black part behind the ripped part?;P I mean, it's gotta contain something. Considering "nothing" actually is "something". It has to contain some kind of matter. I mean, even space is nothing. How can you rip that apart?;P

Science has the Big Crunch, The Big Rip, The Big Freeze.

And Religion has Heaven.

Maybe you get ripped apart before you goto Heaven?

Question: How do these 'end of the universe' theories apply to the multidimensional and/or multiverse models?

Originally posted by ZikhaN
I like how that picture shows the Universe being ripped apart. If that's an artistic view of how it would look, then what's the black part behind the ripped part?;P I mean, it's gotta contain something. Considering "nothing" actually is "something". It has to contain some kind of matter.

If all matter is put in a giant blender, functionally it is the end.

I mean, even space is nothing. How can you rip that apart?;P

Space is not an empty vacuum.