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Originally Posted by jmcb420
By 'heat death' do you mean the eventual dissipation of process that produce heat? Or a fall into disorder that raises the universal temperature? I've heard the arguments on both sides of the table, and I like the icy universe idea. Eventually all the hydrogen and lighter elements will be gone, stars will no longer be born, the remaining will die, black holes clean up the leftovers, then each other, until only one remains.
And that kind of delivers you right back to the singularity...
I have to say though, I think the term 'big bang' is misleading. I'll bet the expansion was silent. I just imagine it that way.
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I mean the eventual dissipation of all matter and energy. The process would be that stars would burn out, with larger stars going supernova or turning into black holes. All matter would eventually either succumb to the pull of one black or another, or would dissipate naturally in the case of energy. Thermal readings at this point would be fairly uniform, and low. Then, Hawking radiation would kick in, making even the black holes themselves dissipate. This would result in a cold, dark universe consisting of virtually nothing. That is the likely ultimate fate of the universe.
The exact opposite of a singularity, really.