The fate of the Universe?
926855
The way to measure it is to measure the redshift of galaxies at different distances. Are they starting to slow down, or not? But like was said above, I'm not going to worry about it. Not that cosmology isn't a fun thing to study, but as far as applications it's just about there with Abstract Art. I would say let's concentrate on applied physics, earth and solar science first, develop some new technologies, maybe colonize Mars, some other solar systems, or a good fraction of the galaxy and then we can worry about the fate of the universe when we have more tools, power and understanding to explore or do something about it. It's noble and admirable, but might be like a caveman pondering the lifespan of the sun - that large bright circle that goes around the flat earth. Occasionally skipping ahead is rewarded - most times it's a shot in the dark.
334992
There are thoeries but they are just that theories.  Some people believe in the big crunch, in that the universe will eventually stop expanding and then retract to a singularity.\nOr that black holes will carry on being created and absorb one another untill the entire universe is swallowed up.\n\nBut to be honest science does not really have the means to provide a definitive answer at the moment.  We will have to wait and see.
477793
The Big Bang \n\nAbout fifty years ago, American astronomers studying the galactic star clusters, stumbled on evidence that the entire Universe is blowing up before our eyes. According to their observations, all the galaxies in the Universe are moving away from us and from one another at very high speeds, and the most distant are receding at the extraordinary speed of hundreds of millions of miles an hour.\n\nFirst there was nothing and it blew up and then there was everything and scientists have calculated that it all happened in 1043 of a second. [The] echo of that explosion can still be heard bouncing around in space. Scientists claim that in the big bang all of the fundamental particles necessary for life were formed. All of the complexity we see around us is the result of this massive explosion.\n\n"The new finding hit the scientific world like a thunderclap." It meant that the idea of an ultimate beginning was no longer merely religious dogma. Science itself now indicated that the universe burst into existence at a particular time in the remote past.\n\nIn 1992 measurements by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and by the Hubble Space Telescope seemed to confirm beyond any reasonable doubt that the Big Bang cosmology is indeed correct. George Smoot, Professor at the University of California at Berkeley and Principle Investigator of the COBE team which made the discovery, said regarding these new observations, "What we have found is evidence for the birth of the universe . . . It's like looking at God."\n\nWorking backwards, the evidence implies that there was a time when the universe was infinitesimally small. The evidence from general relativity also indicates that it was not merely a case of the matter in the universe being concentrated at a particular location, but that space itself was this tiny. At a sudden instant in time all of the energy and mass in the universe was located at this infinitesimally small point and exploded. The currently observed outbound motion of the galaxies from each other is a continuing effect of that explosion.\n\n"The scientific community is prepared to consider the idea that God created the universe is a more respectable hypothesis today than at any time in the last 100 years," Frederic B. Burnham, science historian, declared.\n\nHowever, some die-hard secularists propose that the universe goes through endless cycles of expansions and collapses. Hence, eternity becomes nothing more than an eternal succession of big bangs followed by big crunches followed by big bangs followed by big crunches over and over again and again forever.\n\nBut this violates the second law of thermodynamics, the law of decay, that implies that the universe is in a process of gradual disintegration - running down, like a wound-up clock. And if it is running down, then there must have been a time when it was wound up. Once the big bang takes place and the universe begins its expansion, entropy starts to increase. From this point on it will never be able to go back to its original state.\n\nWhat's more, the first law of thermodynamics (the conservation of matter) implies that matter cannot just pop into existence or create itself. And therefore, if the universe had a beginning, then something external to the universe must have caused it to come into existence - something, or Someone, transcendent to the natural world.\n\nThe facts clearly indicate that the universe is not eternal, and it cannot originate itself The implication is that the universe began at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy. Science has begun to sound eerily like Genesis 1: "And God said, 'Let there be light"' (1:3).\n\nThe evidence requires that we believe God formed the universe at His command, pointing to the importance of taking God at His word literally - from the beginning both of time and the Bible. Second, there is such a striking parallel between the Hebrews 1
690504
in its present form, it can't describe the state of the universe at time=0.  Thus, it doesn't answer the question of where did all the mass and energy come from
514889
Outer space extends to the end of the universe. Further, the universe is constantly expanding. No-one knows if anything is beyond the end of the universe.
322257
I agree. Every single emotion; every single scenario imaginable; both sides of the extreme and what lies in between will occur in this universe. In my opinion, anything is possible in this universe…ANYTHING! And I don’t think this universe has meaning without human ‘observation / awareness’ (consult ‘the observer effect’ in quantum physics + my question about the sound of tree falling in the forest).
1106252
speaking in all logic terms all religon aside.  The universe always was it and it always will be here in one way or another.  But before the "big bang" the universe was smaller, much smaller infact than it was before this catastrophic event.  After the big bang everything that was once very very dense and all close together, is now moving apart from eachother at a considerable rate, leaving more and more area of what we call "space".
621828
Depends what timescale your talking about.  In our life times the universe's existence will be constant, but far in the future it will be likely to end.  Everything's relative, including change.
1003903
There are three possibilities, depending on solutions to the equations of General Relativity and how much mass is in the universe:\n\n1. the universe will stop expanding and then collapse in on itself to a big crunch\n2. the universe will keep expanding for ever\n3. the universe will reach a "stable size" - neither collapse nor expand forever\n\nNo-one knows which.
722611
the universe is constantly expanding although the rate is slowing and never reaches zero.\nexperts believe that the universe is finite yet has no edge, just like the surface area of a sphere. this could imply that if u reached one 'end' of the universe, u would end up on the opposite side or something like that
915186
Since the big bang was an explosion OF space rather than in space, your logic will not work.  Wherever you are in the Universe, everything is going away from you.
193032
The above answers are interesting but, modern physicists speak extensively about 'multiverses'.  So, does one universe end at the edge of another? or, do they 'co-exist' in space and time? OR??????
486455
You'll know the future when it becomes the present.  Contemplating the universe gives a headache anyways, so just wait and see what happens.
1130955
The universe will end when the sun and all the stars collapse and engulf everything killing everything and sucking it all into a dot. We will all be dead, so it doesn't matter what happens after that. Of course, we still have a few billion years before that happens, so I wouldn't worry about it. Besides, I believe the Lord will return before then, but the universe will not end at that time, only change.
1064148
No, the entire known gravitational forces of the universe will collapse
48909
There are multiple possibilities:\na) The universe stops expanding, starts collapsing, and squishes back together (the "Big Crunch" theory)\nb) Basically the Big Crunch theory, except it states that  the universe will "bounce" back out again (the "Big Bounce" theory)\nc)The universe will eventually even out in temperature, and effectively freeze over, so no stars can shine (the "Heat Death" theory)\nd)Vacuum energy will eventually become so strong that every atom in the universe will tear at the exact same moment into traces of radiation (the "Big Rip" theory)\ne)Protons after 10^100 years will decay, leaving the same result as in the Big Rip ("Proton Decay")\n\nNote: Possibility "e" will happen regardless of any other of these possibilities, even though 10^100 years is a rrrreeeeaaaallllllllyyyy long time.
1030178
We could never reach the end of the universe , the farther we look the more stars we will see... And the universe is constantly expanding... so new stars will be forming and others will be dying...