• Question: Will there ever be another big bang?

    Asked by richardk to Charlie, Eoin, Jemma, Julian, Steve on 20 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      I don’t think it is known. Not an astrophysicist, but my understanding is that there are many different theories about whether the universe will keep on expanding forever, and no clear conclusions.

    • Photo: Stephen Moss

      Stephen Moss answered on 17 Mar 2011:

      Hi Richardk

      What a fantastic question. I expect no-one knows, but if it’s happened once, why shouldn’t it happen again? One model of the universe is that it expands, then collapses, then there’s another big bang and the whole thing happens all over again, and continues like that for ever. The thing I always want to know is, what exactly was the thing that went ‘bang’, and why did it go bang.

    • Photo: Eoin Lettice

      Eoin Lettice answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      Hi richard,
      The bigbang was what created the universe, so in the lifetime of this universe, no I don’t think there will ever be another big bang.

      Eoin

    • Photo: Charlie Ryan

      Charlie Ryan answered on 20 Mar 2011:

      hi richardk i don’t really know the answer to this! Sorry!
      On a personal view i’d like to think that there would be another big bang. Currently it looks like the universe is just going to continue expanding, and in billions of years the universe will be empty apart from a thin soup of radiation. This seems a dull way to go, i’d much prefer another big bang!

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