What is the Big Rip?

Gazing up into the universe is mind blowing enough as it is. Trying to comprehend its eventual fate is a whole other level of crazy. However that hasn’t stopped some scientists from coming up with theories about its ultimate end. First published in 2003, the ‘Big Rip’ is a cosmological hypothesis that predicts that all universal matter is being progressively torn apart as the universe expands. From atoms and subatomic particles to stars, planets and galaxies, the theory encompasses them all! The ‘Big Rip’ is one seriously complex concept so we’ll try to explain it in the simplest terms possible.

The backstory

When scientists first started studying the expansion of the universe they believed that as objects expand they are intrinsically attracted to other objects. As a result this was thought to slow expansion rates. In the late 1990s a series of supernova surveys delved deep into space and were able to accurately measure distances that had never before been possible. They discovered that instead of slowing down as originally thought, expansion is actually speeding up!

Dark energy explained

The force behind the supposed expansion of the universe is sinisterly referred to as ‘dark energy.’ This unknown form of momentum permeates all of space. While in the past scientists maintained that dark energy is no match for the forces of gravity and magnetism that bind protons and neutrons together, new theories suggest otherwise. Now, experimental evidence hints that dark energy could be gaining strength which could eventually arm it with the power to pull apart any object, including galaxies, star systems, planets and any other objects held together by electromagnetic forces. Eventually dark matter will overpower all other universal forces, thus stripping the universe bare and rendering it non-existent. It’s a somewhat terrifying concept that scientists like to call the ‘Big Rip.’

“Mathematically we know what this means. But what it actually means in physical terms is hard to fathom,” explains Dr Disconzi, a researcher at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Laboratory science plays an integral role in helping form such theories, and Pittcon celebrates all things test tube. Want to know more about the global event? ‘New Orleans will play host to the 66th Pittcon, which will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, on 8-12 March 2015’ looks at this year’s exhibition which attracted over 16,000 attendees from more than 90 countries worldwide.