Into The Universe: How The Universe Will End...
Near the end of the Into The Universe series with Stephen Hawking, he states that there is a force called Dark Energy which pushes space apart. This is apparently the cause of the big bang, but no one can really figure out how this Dark Energy triggered the big bang, nor can they really prove it exists. What I find really entertaining is the fact that Hawking himself stated in the same show that gravity is a very powerful and underestimated force (paraphrasing). It is my belief that the Big Bang was actually a huge black hole, which reached the point of failure. The point at which it could not hold any more. It is very possible that a chemical reaction occurred, similar to how stars form. Black holes behave differently depending on how large, or small they are. So what about a super massive black hole? Well, we cant really say how it would react, but chances are, there is a limit to how dense matter can get. After running many simulations of gravity, I have found that if you leave them long enough, while many particles appear to have been sling shotted far away from a focal center point, they will always eventually find their way back. Unless of course they run into something else. Does the force of gravity have limits? Likely not. Galaxies millions of light years away from each other do effect each other through their gravities interacting. I imagine the same holds true to galaxies and stars billions of light years away. I imagine that the force of gravity will diminish just as visible light would diminish at such distances, but that gravity is still there, pulling on the objects and slowing its outward speed down ever so slightly. Eventually, it is possible that star systems will end up in a deep freeze type scenario, where we find ourselves far away from other galaxies, seemingly on our own in the universe... But eventually we should be sucked back into the great crunch. We may wobble around it a bit, and perhaps form an elliptical orbit around it for many billions of years before we are eventually sucked into a massive black hole. But I do believe that the universe will eventually collapse into itself again - only to eventually grow too dense again, compress all the particles back into hydrogen atoms, and start over again with another big bang. This is almost like the war between the Elements and the Forces of Nature, the dominant force in this case being Gravity. I understand that there are studies which have found that things are moving away from each other in the universe, and things are gaining speed as they move away, but keep in mind this is all a matter of perspective from where we sit here on earth. It is also possible for galaxies to propel themselves by the many star systems sling shotting around inside the galaxy, thus shifting the balance of gravity, and causing the whole galaxy to speed up. Eventually however, I think all the galaxies will eventually turn into huge black holes, and the black holes of the former galaxies would eventually gravitate towards each other and merge. I estimate it would take a trillion years or so in order for the universe to collapse into it self again, re-condense the atoms to the simplest form, Hydrogen, and start the process all over again. It is possible that there are other universes out there. Perhaps there were star systems very close to the big bang when it occurred, but the blast obliterated them, or the force of the shock wave sent them flying further out into space then we can see. Since most stars would of been formed long after the original blast occurred, it is possible that the stars nearest the big bang, were pushed away or destroyed long before the first stars in our universe came into being. Thus we might not be able to look that far back in time by looking into space. Either way it is an intriguing thought. If someone wants to debate these theories with me, I would welcome the debate. I am interested in hearing the points which support this Dark Energy theory.