What are some of the processes that will eventually occur if the Universe expands forever?
962536
There are two possibilities. \n1. Eventually, all the stars burn out (this will occur in phases because different kinds of stars will take different amounts of time due to size).  Some are large enough they will supernovae and collapse into black holes.  Black holes eventually evaporate and cease to exist.  Eventually, matter itself will decay and the universe will essentially be dead.\n\n2. Another theory is that whatever caused the Big Bang is still causing the universe to expand at an even greater rate (some evidence is supporting this).  Eventually, this will cause the universe to literally rip apart (this theory is called the "Big Rip").  It will occur over large areas at first, causing clusters of galaxies to splinter off, then galaxies themselves will come apart, freeing starts, etc. to go off on their own.  The rip will continue to occur at smaller and smaller areas, going to solar systems, stars and planets, then individual atoms, and subatomic particles.  All of this occurs exponentially.  When the smaller objects begin to rip apart, it occurs faster and faster.  When planets rip apart, it may be less than a month before the atoms themselves are ripped apart.  \n\nEither of these will occur over a period of billions and billions of years (as Carl Sagan would've said) and long after the earth itself is gone.  The first scenario, though, will take much longer than the second.
464239
The expansion happens everywhere, but things that are bound together even moderately, do not experience it reletive to what they are bound to.  You don't notice it in the solar system, our own galaxy, or even the local galaxies near by.  This is because the gravitational force is enough to overcome the exansion.\n\nSimilarly you don't exapand (due to chemical bonds), and electron orbits, governed by QED (advanced form of electromagnetism) don't change their size.  In a sense you will only notice it with objects that you are basically unconnected with.\n\nWe don't notice the cosmic expansion until we either look at galaxies and objects very far away, or look at light that has traveled vast distanced before it reaches us.
9649
It does not end and its growing, before you try tackling such a question, answer the micro-level questions of the same kind.  The universe encompasses all that exists, and by default then, it is largely unknown.  We don't know where the universe ends, and all evidence points to it being endless and growing, therefore we make a conclusion based on a portion of the information actually needed.
274902
oscillating universe\nIn astronomy, theory stating that the gravitational attraction of the mass within the universe will eventually slow down and stop the expansion of the universe. The outward motions of the galaxies will then be reversed, eventually resulting in a ‘Big Crunch’ where all the matter in the universe will be contracted into a small volume of high density. This could undergo a further Big Bang, thereby creating another expansion phase. The theory suggests that the universe would alternately expand and collapse through alternate Big Bangs and Big Crunches.
1149831
So far our observations are leaning more towards open, because our universe is expanding at an accellerating rate, and it shows no sign of slowing, if it were closed (which we havent found enough matter in the universe to help this theory) then the expansion would slow, come to a stop, and come back and collapse back in on itself. But so far evidence is telling us it won't.
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...
196829
The crucial question is whether the universe is dense enough to slow things down enough before everything expands away. Yes, gravity exists all through the universe (at least what we can see). In fact, it was Einstein's theory explaining gravity that first predicted the expansion of the universe (although Einstein legislated that solution away by adding in another term). But if the density is too small, the velocity of expansion is already above the escape velocity and so expansion continues forever.\n\nEven more important, we have recently found that the expansion is accelerating! This means that the term that Einstein put in actually exists, but not in the way he expected. Nobody really understands what is happening with this 'Dark energy'.
990249
The universe may very well be expanding into nothing. You see, we are used to thinking of expansion in terms of objects expanding into space (3D space) but the universe is space.\n\nThere is really no other way to explain it and it's something you might just have to accept though it's hard to envision.\n\nAnother explaination is that the universe may actually exist in a higher dimension (for example, 2D exists within 3D). According to membrane theory, the universe may have resulted from the collision of two "membranes" in a higher dimention and mass is the overlapping of those membranes.\n\nBut that is just one of the many possabilities.
710329
I hate to be the philosopher but that is why the question still reamins. No one can accuratly tell what lies beyond the boundries of the universe. Is there another? Is it just white noise? I believe that space is infinite and our "universe" could well be a part of a cluster of "multiverses". i was once told that the universe is expanding in the same way that a balloon is blown up. So what lies beyond our universe? I say space, space, and more space! \n\nIf our universe began with the "big bang" then that would mean that at some point the universe had collapsed upon itself, leaving empty space.
265923
Yes. The universe is constantly expanding. It is possible we are all being sucked into a massive black hole, far far outside the reaches of our universe which would account for the the expansion of our universe. Additionally, the best competing theory for the start of the universe is the big bang , where everything expands out of one tiny point. It is reasonable to think that the universe could end in the opposite way - The Big Suck, where we get pulled into a massive black hole, just like the one you describe. So yes, I think it's very possible.
514185
does the universe end?  no one knows yet.  the beginning of the universe is much better understood.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_universe
1130599
The planets in this solar system are in stable orbits and get no farther away from each other than their orbits allow.\n\nYou are thinking of things like galaxies moving away from eachother, indicating that the universe is expanding.\n\nFirst off, to correct a misconception, some galaxies are moving towards one another, for example, the Andromeda Galaxy, and our own galaxy the Milky Way. \n\nCertain galaxies also seem to be "clumping" together, traveling towards something called "the geat attractor".\n\nDistant galaxies and quasars seem to be moving away.\n\nTo answer your question, some speculate that the expansion of the universe will continue forever and that gravity will lose in the long run. Eventually clusters of matter will become so seperated from eachother that the possability of any productive interactions approaches zero and stars will eventually die, and their remnants will be spread to thin to form into new ones. The universe, will essentially be a cold, dark, corpse. This is called the "cold death" theory. Depressing isn't it?\n\nBut never fear! There are other theories out there! Perhaps the universe will eventually implode into a big crunch, and the force of this implosion will create a new universe! Scientists aren't yet sure exactly how the universe will end. Hopefully none of us will be around to find out by example.
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.
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.
760374
Scientists say it is expanding. If true, that would mean that the universe is not infinite. It also suggests a beginning.\n\nGood question. Reminds me of my childhood imagination. I imagined a brick wall at the very edge of the universe. Then, however, I wondered what was on the other side of that brick wall.\n\nI wonder what the scientists are saying about it? I bet they don't know either.
592261
No one knows if there is an end of the universe. Remember the "Big Bang Theory" is, of course, just a theory. However, I think the universe may be growing into something, just like diffusion. The universe is growing into a space that no human mind is or will be able to comprehend until we create technology great enough to get out of our galaxy, out of our universe, and into something more. Something so far, far away that we most likely will not have enough technology to get to in our lifetimes or in many generations to come. It will probably take hundreds of years for humans to travel to another galaxy and back safely, but probably thousand to millions of years, if the human race still exists, for us to get farther - into something more, the land beyond.
980485
The number of atoms in the universe is not decreasing...\nThey are spreading out as the Universe expands...