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Old 12-15-2003, 04:42 PM   #16
hot_pastrami
I am meaty
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Posts: 1,119
Quote:
Originally posted by juju
Although, I think I remember reading that there would not be a big crunch -- that everything would just drift apart and we would die a cold death.
This is the most likely current theory... entropy, and the speed at which matter is spreading out in the universe, suggests that eventually the universe will be a cloud of neutral particles. Even if there is a Big Crunch, it is almost certain that the universe will be in such a state when it starts to collapse, meaning that nobody could be around to observe the decelleration and recollapse of all the matter in the universe.

It's a bleak thought, though... the cyclic theory at least allows the opportunity for life to develop again in the next incarnation of the universe.
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