What will happen to all matter in the end?

[Kizzi]

I know some elements are radioactive, but I was wondering that in the distant, distant future, long, long after the stars have gone, will all matter eventually decay into nothing so that finally there will be nothing left in the universe (providing future scientists don't interfere)?

 

Or will there always be stable atoms left in the universe, because they can't decay any further (as long as the black holes don't swallow them)?

 

Kizzi :eek:

[karlfreak]

does it really mnatter

 

well u think it would continue to exist to it was destoyed or decayed but thats just me

 

or phraps it will turn it a gaint mud pit ( :eek: :eek: :D :eek: )

[infamous]

does it really mnatter

 

well u think it would continue to exist to it was destoyed or decayed but thats just me

 

or phraps it will turn it a gaint mud pit ( :eek: :eek: :D :eek: )

 

Could someone please define the word pathetic for karl.

[karlfreak]

Could someone please define the word pathetic for karl.

 

pathetic[/size]=exciying pity or sadness or contempt

 

i know what it means

 

but hey that's what i think will happen to matter in the end u !@#%*# :eek:

[Erasmus00]

I know some elements are radioactive, but I was wondering that in the distant, distant future, long, long after the stars have gone, will all matter eventually decay into nothing so that finally there will be nothing left in the universe (providing future scientists don't interfere)?

 

Or will there always be stable atoms left in the universe, because they can't decay any further (as long as the black holes don't swallow them)?

 

Kizzi :)

 

I imagine that what will happen is that matter will undergo various state changes untill it settles down into its ground state (lowest energy form). I think it would be a lump of some form of iron (I think iron has the lowest binding per nucleon? I may be wrong).

-Will

[niviene]

I know some elements are radioactive, but I was wondering that in the distant, distant future, long, long after the stars have gone, will all matter eventually decay into nothing so that finally there will be nothing left in the universe (providing future scientists don't interfere)?

 

Or will there always be stable atoms left in the universe, because they can't decay any further (as long as the black holes don't swallow them)?

 

Kizzi :)

 

Why is it that you think all the stars will be gone? It seems that they are born and die almost like living beings. Matter just changes form... decaying is not becoming nothing, it is just a process of changing the energy in matter into a different form. Even if scientists interfere, the energy will still exist, somehow, in some form.

 

What do you consider "the end"?

[Erasmus00]

Why is it that you think all the stars will be gone? It seems that they are born and die almost like living beings. Matter just changes form... decaying is not becoming nothing, it is just a process of changing the energy in matter into a different form. Even if scientists interfere, the energy will still exist, somehow, in some form.

 

What do you consider "the end"?

 

Stars convert hydrogen to heavier elements. When you run out of hydrogen, you run out of stars.

-Will

[niviene]

Where does hydrogen come from?

[infamous]

Stars convert hydrogen to heavier elements. When you run out of hydrogen, you run out of stars.

-Will

 

That would be true if we only defined stars as bright shining objects. The facts are that there are other objects in our universe that don't shine and they consist of the residual material left over when the bright shining stops. The first to come to mind would be what scientists call brown dwarfs. If the star is of sufficient mass, a neutron star can form from the remnant of a super-nova explosion. Here is where things get very mysterious for the next theoritical body to form could be, what is called a quark star. Astronomers have found a possible candidate for such an object but proof is still lacking. The threshold between quark star and black hole formation is so narrow that we may never get the opportunity to actually observe such an object. Amazing universe we live in, you and I.

[Erasmus00]

Where does hydrogen come from?

 

The big bang, under standard model.

-Will

[Erasmus00]

That would be true if we only defined stars as bright shining objects. .

 

I was just pointing out that all the stars would eventually burn out. I think, given enough time, matter would just sorta settle into a ground state. You'd have lots of cold lumps of iron floating around. White dwarfs, neutron stars and brown dwarfs still cool with time, and will continue to cool untill they hit a ground state.

-Will

[niviene]

The big bang, under standard model.

-Will

 

And nothing else in the universe expels hydrogen? (sorry, I really don't know this stuff...I hope I'm not coming across as being rude. :))

[Erasmus00]

And nothing else in the universe expels hydrogen? (sorry, I really don't know this stuff...I hope I'm not coming across as being rude. :))

 

As far as I know, that is correct. All the matter in the universe started as hydrogen. Stars forge it into heavier elements, slowly over time. As far as I know, there is no source for fresh hydrogen.

-Will

[niviene]

Wow... I really had no idea. This is one field (of many) that I find fascinating but never learned more than the basics.

 

*begins running around with signs that read "The End is Nigh!"*

[EWright]

OK, I'm starting to question the competence of some of the knowledge on this site. The fate of all matter in the universe depends on the shape of the universe. The shape of the universe is what will determine ITS overall fate. Current projections are that because the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate, due to a force dubbed "dark energy", that it will continue to expand to the point that every atom in the universe will be spread into smaller and smaller particles. First galaxies will be spread so far apart that we would not be able to view other galaxies. Then our own start will become so distant that there'd be no other stars in the night sky (yes, i realize this is long after the earth is dead and gone). Everything will be spread so far and at such an increasing rate that gasses will not be able to form new stars, etc. See Scientific American magazin online for more info on this. It would have been about a year ago.

[CraigD]

And nothing else in the universe expels hydrogen?

As far as I know, that is correct. All the matter in the universe started as hydrogen. Stars forge it into heavier elements, slowly over time. As far as I know, there is no source for fresh hydrogen

It is possible to produce hydrogen from heavier elements. Just knock the nuclei of heavy atoms together hard enough to break them into protons and neutrons, throw them back together with their electrons, cool them down, and you’ve got hydrogen and neutrons. Free neutrons decay pretty quickly – half of them every 10 minutes – into pairs of protons and electrons, which make hydrogen.

 

This can be done with a fairly old, low-powered particle accelerator. It’s reasonable to believe that some exotic astronomical objects like neutron stars may establish conditions where this can occur. So, while possible, it doesn’t happen in anywhere near the quantities that stars fuse hydrogen into helium, etc.

 

An important point is that making hydrogen from heavier elements takes energy, the major source of which is the fusion in stars of hydrogen, helium, and other elements up to but not including any as heavy or heavier than iron. So, once all the stars have fused hydrogen into heavier elements, there’ll be no energy left to transmute them back into hydrogen. Exotic objects – many-galaxy-mass black holes and the like – may postpone the energy shortage for a while, but not forever.

 

According to the currently Standard Model, either the universe will settle down to a lot of ordinary heavy elements, or be dominated by lots of super-massive neutron stars. (The Standard Model really doesn’t say much about anything more massive than big neutron stars – black holes – though mainstream cosmology is pretty convinced such super-massive black holes exists) Though it’s not a well-described, accepted part of it yet, many people think that the Standard Model will eventually allow for protons, free or in heavy nuclei, to decay into various kinds of weird force and matter. Experiments suggest that, if this actually happens, it’s happens super-slowly – half of all protons in 10^33 years. If this turns out to be the case, the universe will ultimately be a soup of weird particles, and either electrons, photons, or a mixture, with increasingly few atoms of ordinary matter, but only very, very far in the future.

 

All this Particle Physics stuff assumes that, on a large scale, the universe will keep expanding. If that turns out not to be the case – a real possibility, given the current poor understanding of such things – the deep future could be entirely different.