Could the Universe End by Tearing Apart Every Atom?

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Of all the unlikely ends of the universe, the Big Rip has to be the most spectacular. Galaxies ripped to shreds, dogs and cat first living together, then tragically separated by the infinitely accelerating expansion of space on subatomic scales. Good thing it's not going to happen. Or is it?

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Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Written by Matt O'Dowd
Graphics by Aaron Halevy
Directing by Andrew Kornhaber

The universe is expanding, and that expansion is accelerating. We don’t know what’s causing that acceleration, but that hasn’t stopped us from giving it a name. We call this unknown influence dark energy. The observed acceleration is, for the most part, nicely described with a constant density of dark energy – the same amount of this stuff in every block of space. Which means if you increase the volume you increase the overall amount of dark energy – hence accelerating expansion. Mathematically we describe a constant energy density with the cosmological constant in the equations of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. But what if dark energy is NOT constant? What if the energy density in each patch of space increases over time? In that case, the acceleration itself could be … accelerating. That would be bad.

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سلطان الخليفي

And a round of applause to Andreas Nautsch.

[DavidMiller]

You're Tearing Me Apart, Lisa!

Oh, hi Dark Energy...

[Rogun]

You know man, I dunno. Im just trying to make it to Friday.

[timsullivan]

"And the 3rd reason to hate on Phantom Energy..."
It's okay - you already had me after reason #1.

[gustavmaia]

"take a nap and come back when the pretty pictures come back" touché my friend, touché.

[parakmi]

We are sorry but recent budget cuts require reduction of simulated universes. Unfortunately your universe is one of the chosen for early termination.

Shutdown timer is now set at:40 billion years.

[Master_Therion]

Wait, 8:44 A paper describing the accelerating expansion of space is titled 'The Phantom Menace?'
Now _this_ is pod racing.

[jbiasutti]

In a previous video you made a note that it is impossible to separate quarks.

Moving them apart creates enough energy to create another pair of quarks.

So in the instant that dark energy becomes strong enough to pull apart subatomic particles the universe will suddenly be full of enough mass to slow down the expansion of the universe.


So have we just explained inflation?

[deathsyth]

"You're tearing me apart, universe!"
- Johnny, 'The Room' (2003)

[shreechaturvedi]

Truly respect the sincere lifetime dedication it takes to understand cosmology, physics and astronomy at this level

[Prometheus]

An accelerating acceleration tells us one thing...dark energy is a jerk.

[FaynarsSaiqo]

I think it's interesting that this channel seems to go so much more in depth into topics than other PBS youtube channels that I've seen.

[brenebon]

Thank you very much for answering that question about splitting hadrons. I deeply appreciate the expertise and presentation that you bring to these videos. It's solely because of your videos, the questions they spawn, and your interactions with viewers that I even have the chance to understand the universe and its interesting physics on a deeper level. So again, thank you very much for what you do.

[ErnestJay]

Big bang, big rip, big crunch, but reality is, the universe ended as a BIG MAC

[ryanhampson]

Alien kid in moms basement: Creates universe on a computer
Alien Mom: :"Billy, Dinner time"
Kid: "Ok mom be right there"
Mom;..."Billy?"
Kid: "Hold on mom I have to save my game!"
Alien Dad: (pull power cord out of the wall)
Universe dies
Kid: "DAD!!! Ugh Now I have to restart the whole game!!!"

[sieri]

You joke about taking a nap, but I use PBS space time as a sleeping aid, your calming voice and interesting complex subjects far removed from my life problems helps a lot to calm my anxiety keeping me awake. Thanks for the service!

[Ben-rbsz]

“Take a nap and wait for the pretty pictures come back”. He was talking directly to me then!

[Hopkins]

Good thing it isn't going to happen...or is it?

**VSAUCE MUSIC**

[galerius]

13:30
Thank you Dot. That is exactly the question I was wondering about for most of this video.

[thehamstercreo]

when you realize the universe is gonna end in a RIP

[StopChangingUsernamesYouTube]

Earth: "I don't feel so good, Mr. Sol."