Dangerous Universe E4: Cosmic Calamity

Introduction:

• Last episode in the “Dangerous Universe” series, Cosmic Calamity today
• Next series Living Universe
• Content Warning: this episode can get a bit depressing, if that’s not something you need in your life right now, please feel free to skip this episode.

Overview:

• What is the Cosmos or Universe? 
  • Currently, one part matter, five parts dark matter, and 14 parts dark energy
  • The universe is our word for everything.
  • When we talk about it expanding, it is expanding into itself (which is a whole other thing…)
• What does it mean to kill the Cosmos?
  • We think of the universe as the place where things happen. It’s got lots of structure from filaments, to clusters, to galaxies, to stars, to planets, to people, there are lots of things in the universe and those things do stuff.
  • If any of those stopped happening then the universe would be dead
• What methods are there to destroy a galaxy?
  • Most straightforward, again, just wait. Entropy always wins 
  • Big rip, big crunch, big freeze
  • Vacuum Decay (the cosmic firewall)
  • How to avoiding universe destruction?

Links to Science Outreach Material:

• McDonald Institute
• Royal Astronomical Society
• Astronomy on Tap

Special thanks to Colin Vendromin for the music, also thanks to Zac Kenny for the logo!