• Question: When the sun inevitably explodes and humanity has been dead for millennia, do you think there will be another big bang and the world we know will be recreated?

    Asked by anon-182894 on 28 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Liza Selley

      Liza Selley answered on 28 Jun 2018:

      oooh possibly! Just think of all the energy that is released when a star explodes..perhaps it could trigger another big bang. I wonder whether it would create more of the same elements and objects or would new ones be made? Would the second big bang enable life to develop in more places? We have so many unanswered questions about the first big bang, this would create so many more!

    • Photo: Joanne Sharpe

      Joanne Sharpe answered on 28 Jun 2018:

      Woaaah. Amazing question. This kind of stuff blows my mind! If the sun exploded, it would only really affect our solar system, the rest of the universe would go on.. but if the universe ever ends, I have no idea what would happen after that.. it is fascinating! I used to watch all Brian Cox’s documentaries on space because I couldn’t get over how cool it is haha!

    • Photo: Claire Donald

      Claire Donald answered on 28 Jun 2018:

      I read an article about this in ‘The Conversation’ about the future of the Sun. It says that although some stars do explode, our Sun is too small. Instead, in about 6 billion years, it will become a ‘Red Giant’ star. This means that it will swell up (possibly engulfing the Earth!) before cooling down to a shiny red colour. This will last for a few million years before it eventually dies. When this happens the outer layers will come off and the core will gradually cool and go dark. Poor Sun 🙁

      You can read the article here https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-whats-going-to-happen-to-the-sun-in-the-future-will-it-explode-78029

    • Photo: Lauren Burns

      Lauren Burns answered on 28 Jun 2018:

      If you combine one of Einstein’s ideas that we live in a deterministic Universe and combine it with another theory that the Universe will stop expanding and collapse in on itself, then perhaps the energy released at the point of full collapse will spark the Big Bang again. However, the scales involve both time and space mean it is as close to the field of Philosophy as it is Physics! It is also worth noting that there is a probability element to quantum physics so it isn’t an entirely deterministic Universe we live in.

Comments