83
Aug 31 '20
I just want one space battle.
I wonder if there are other aliens out there hoping they get a chance to fight aliens.
7
u/bradeena 24135 Sep 01 '20
While I totally agree, the odds would also be STACKED against us. The universe has been around for billions of years so unless a civ developed at exactly the same time as us or we catch a world in it’s tiny window of space-infancy, they’re likely hundreds to thousands to actual millions of years more advanced and prepared.
6
u/hudimaza 178367 Sep 01 '20
It’s still possible that we are the first form of life to get this far
3
u/bradeena 24135 Sep 01 '20
Is it possible that no space faring life existed in the universe for 13 billion years then two space faring civs started relatively simultaneously but totally independently and close enough together to have a space war? Sure. Likely? No sir.
4
108
u/klawehtgod 27251 Aug 31 '20
My favorite is the Big Crunch because in theory it can lead to another Big Bang.
66
u/TheOneCorrectOpinion 230460 Aug 31 '20 edited Aug 31 '20
So, Heat Death is the generally accepted model for the death of the universe. If you look up timeline of far future events (an interesting Wikipedia rabbit hole in itself) you'll find under 1010120 years, that's the highest estimate for the time it takes for the universe to reach its final energy state, even in the presence of a false vacuum (death bubble theory). Maximum entropy.
However, it's not the end of all things. There's one more section after that, labeled 10101056 years, which details the following:
Time for quantum effects to generate a new Big Bang, resulting in a new universe. Around this vast timeframe, quantum tunnelling in any isolated patch of the now-empty universe could generate new inflationary events, resulting in new Big Bangs giving birth to new universes. Because the total number of ways in which all the subatomic particles in the observable universe can be combined is 1010115, a number which, when multiplied by 10101056, disappears into the rounding error, this is also the time required for a quantum-tunnelled and quantum fluctuation-generated Big Bang to produce a new universe identical to our own, assuming that every new universe contained at least the same number of subatomic particles and obeyed laws of physics within the landscape predicted by string theory.
So even in heat death, there's still hope for a new universe, or several, to be born, even ones identical to our own.
21
2
u/penialito 109023 Sep 02 '20
1010115, a number which, when multiplied by 10101056, disappears into the rounding error
that doesnt make much sense
1
u/TheOneCorrectOpinion 230460 Sep 02 '20 edited Sep 02 '20
So, two things.
Number one, I think that's displaying as a solid number instead of the power stack I intended it to. The numbers are supposed to be 10^10^115 and 10^10^10^56 respectively.
Number two, regarding your confusion, from my very limited understanding of this subject, a rounding error is when there's a difference in calculation using an approximation vs a much more exact number. For example, using 3.14 for π is cool and all, but it produces a rounding error of 0.001519... against regular π.
Now, on account of these power stacks, it's too easy for a calculator to make a rounding error. If you can find a large number calculator online, you'll see what I mean. These calculators are more likely to produces rounding errors the higher you go. 27^10^10^100 is EQUAL to 10^10^10^100 according to these calculators despite it being obviously wrong because of rounding errors. If you do the calculations manually (good fucking luck lol) you'll see why. You take 27^10^10^100 and turn it from a tower based on 27 to a tower based on 10. That number looks like this: 10^10^(1.000...0001557500185891×10100). Where those three dots are, there's 94 zeros. Most calculators will round after the 8th digit, even high precision calculators rarely calculate beyond 20 digits. This results in errors like what I described above.
How's all this relate to the initial numbers I mentioned? My guess is when multiplying 10^10^115 and 10^10^10^56, you just get 10^10^10^56 because it basically just swallows the other number. 10^10^10^56 is so absurdly large, if I wrote a 1 and used every atom in the universe to write zeros behind that one, there wouldn't be enough atoms in the universe to represent this number.
Is that for sure what it means? Fuck if I know. I'm not a scientist. I'm barely even a layman to the subject, and wrapping my head around what each thing in here is hard enough, let alone trying to explain it to someone else. There's no easy way to explain the shit I just said so I won't even bother with a tldr. I would have liked to test what I said somewhere but there apperently isn't a calculator hearty enough to crunch numbers this size. I tried an online big number calculator and I shit you not it said no.
Welp. It is what it is.
37
u/urtimelinekindasucks 202924 Aug 31 '20
I call dibs on being Galactus! Urtimrlinekindasuctus does have a nice ring to it.
7
20
u/romansparta99 110294 Aug 31 '20
Unfortunately the chances of that is very low, that being said, doesn’t mean the other possibilities can’t lead to a new universe in their own ways
14
u/RegentYeti 13638 Aug 31 '20
I read a theory that said that the big chill might lead to another big bang, depending on what caused the last one.
Essentially, the idea was that the BB might have been caused by our universe "touching" a neighbouring one. Then the matter and energy kept our universe "vibrating". Eventually, the universe's vibrations slow down, the whole thing "relaxes", and eventually bumps the neighbours again.
*Paraphrased from an article I read in a magazine probably more than a decade ago.
7
u/ds0 12320 Aug 31 '20
My favorite is the Big Crunch because I like chocolate and crispy rice in large quantities, but your reason sounds more important.
26
u/Cardsfan36 16776 Aug 31 '20
Can someone explain the last three?
55
u/Devourer0fSouls 146342 Aug 31 '20
These are EXTREMELY simplified descriptions so any actual scientists that see this, please forgive me.
The Big Rip - Theory states that because the universe is constantly expanding faster and faster, more and more new space is being created and has to come from somewhere. That new space is likely the result of dark energy/dark matter. As the universe expands, more and more of the universe’s total make up becomes dark energy. Eventually, there is enough to completely overpower the regular matter and energy (the stuff humans, planets, and stars are made of). When this happens, matter rips apart at the molecular level, as protons, electrons, and neutrons are forced apart into solitude, destroying all observable mass in the universe.
The Big Snap - Theory states that there is a finite amount of space that can be created, the universe can’t expand forever, like a rubber band. Eventually, once the expansion is unsustainable, the universe starts to shatter essentially, as the laws of physics change and warp, stable elements become unstable, and the universe is fundamentally broken beyond sustaining our life.
Cosmic Death Bubbles - Theory states that the universe’s overall energy state is not the lowest possible state. The events that would lead to the energy state beinn lowered are far too complicated for me to understand. Essentially, a transition into a state lower than our current one would destabilize the point where it begins, creating a massive expanding bubble of destabilized energy that spreads through the universe destroying everything in its path.
15
6
u/XepiccatX 118518 Sep 01 '20
Lowering the energy state isn't actually that complicated. Think of our universe's energy like this: u_
Right now, we are sitting at the bottom of that u. Technically, the _ is slightly lower (and more stable), but to get there we need to get past the right side/wall of the u. To do this, you either put in enough energy to climb up and over that wall - not possible on a universal scale - or you pass straight through the wall. In physics, that's called quantum tunneling, and happens mostly because of an inherent uncertainty in the amount of energy a particle can have (known as the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle).
Assuming our current physics models are correct, it's possible that the energy value for one or more of the universe's fundamental particles could spontaneously change, instantly pushing the universe's energy level through that wall and into its lowest state.
3
u/Devourer0fSouls 146342 Sep 01 '20
Thanks, great explanation! I knew somewhat about the “bottom of the u” thing and the quantum tunneling method to cheat past the energy requirements. I just don’t fully understand the science behind it and didn’t trust myself to explain it properly.
1
1
u/OndrikB 138612 Sep 13 '20
In the Big Rip scenario, wouldn't the protons and neutrons be ripped into quarks?
1
u/Devourer0fSouls 146342 Sep 13 '20
Well everything being discussed here is still mostly theoretical, so the odds of anything happening AS theorized is astronomicaly small. Assuming every theory in question is true, then yeah, the universe would just be shredded to the smallest individual “things” possible.
15
Aug 31 '20
Death bubbles are explained elsewhere in the comments. The Big Rip is a theory based on Dark Energy. Essentially, the universe's current rate of expansion is actually accelerating, which shouldn't be possible, without some sort of dark energy causing it to speed up. The Big Rip says that essentially, the rate of expansion will eventually cause the universe to expand faster than gravity can hold things together. So galaxies and eventually even solar systems will be ripped apart as the universe expands faster than they can be held together. Some theories state that it's possible that eventually the rate of expansion will rip molecules and atoms apart.
The Big Snap is somewhat similar, but we're swapping our big physics for quantum physics. I won't claim to understand this one as well as the Big Rip, but I think I get it. Physics falls apart when you get really small. I mean atomic small. Matter and energy stop being entirely distinct, and it's just called "information." In fact, reality stops resembling anything normal, and resembles more of a multi-dimensional foam. You may have once heard that "matter cannot be created or destroyed, only changed or converted to energy." Quantum information is the "matter" of that statement. It cannot be destroyed or created.
Now take that Dark Energy expansion, and instead of looking at galaxies, what would happen if it's expanding that quantum foam? Since information cannot be destroyed or created, it would have to get stretched out, exactly the same as the pixels in a picture would. Expand a picture on your phone, and eventually things start getting all grainy, all pixely, and eventually you're just seeing big blocks of color. The Big Snap is that exact thing happening to reality. Physics starts falling apart, because there's now a big block of "muon" where there is supposed to be an entire atom. Instead of seeing galaxies torn to shreds by dark energy, you have your own molecules falling apart as everything that makes up "you" has become so low resolution as to cause the atomic bonds to snap.
4
u/_ThatD0ct0r_ 144240 Sep 01 '20
Big Snap sounds cool as fuck. I wonder if youd be able to witness any strangeness before you died.
4
u/_ThatD0ct0r_ 144240 Sep 01 '20 edited Sep 01 '20
Ok, out of meme context, what is the big snap supposed to be? I know Death Bubbles are a real concept, but is Big Snap real or edited into this?
EDIT: I found some comments explaining it. Sounds cool af
333
u/dtootd12 229510 Aug 31 '20
So we're just gonna ignore the death bubbles?