Big Crunch

The Big Crunch is a possible scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe where the expansion of the universe reverses causing it to collapse in to an infinitely small point, possibly followed by a second Big Bang. A majority of evidence states that this is false. Instead, observations state that the universe is expanding faster, rather than being slowed by gravity, making the heat death of the universe more likely. Some physicists have proposed that this could be caused by dark matter fluctuations.

The hypothesis dates back to 1922 when Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann created a series of equations showing the end of the universe depends on density. It could either expand or contract rather than stay stable. With enough matter, gravity could stop the universe's expansion and eventually reverse it. This reversal would cause the universe collapsing on itself, similar to a black hole.

The ending of the Big Crunch would get filled with radiation from stars and high-energy particles; when this is condensed and shifted to higher energy, it would be extreme enough to ignite the surface of stars before they collide. In the final moments, the universe would be one large fireball with a near-infinite temperature, and at the absolute end, time and space would both be gone.