as for how it's going to end... ummmm

至於說到它要如何結束 ... 嗯。

Hi everyone, in Universe A, Julian here for DNews.

嗨，在 A 宇宙的各位，我是 DNews 的主持人 Julian

The Big Bang Theory is more than just a TV show my parents keep telling me I should be on.

《宅男行不行》不只是一部我父母一直告訴我應該去參加的電視劇。

It's our best explanation for how the universe, as we know it, started.

它最能好好說明宇宙，如我們所知，如何開始的。

When Edwin Hubble looked at the night sky in 1923, he discovered that the universe was much bigger than just our Milky Way.

當 Edwin Hubble 在西元 1923 年看著夜晚的星空時，他發現宇宙比我們的銀河系大多了。

There were actually metric oodles of galaxies, all over the place.

實際上到處都有公制星系。

Then in 1929, because he wasn't done being a science boss,

後來在西元 1929 年，因為他還不是科學界大佬，

Hubble also noticed that the majority of galaxies are speeding away from us.

Hubble 也注意到大部分星系正加速遠離我們。

Logically, then, if you go backwards in time,

邏輯上來看，如果你把時間倒轉，

everything must have been smushed together in a singularity, at some point,

某個時間點，所有東西一定都會融合成為一個奇點，

and I mean that both physically and temporally.

我的意思是在物理上或時間上。

With all that phenomenal cosmic power in an itty-bitty living space,

隨著這驚人的宇宙能量累積在這微小的生存空間，

it blew right up in the greatest fireworks display of the last 13.8 billion years.

它在 138 億年前就以最宏偉的煙火表演爆發了。

As you can imagine, this discovery was a game-changer.

可以想見，這個發現改變了遊戲規則。

Einstein's equations on general relativity from 1917

西元 1917 年Einstein 廣義相對論的方程式

should've mathematically predicted an expanding or contracting universe,

應該就能以數學方式預測宇宙是擴張或緊縮，

but the math had been intentionally fudged by a scientist who didn't want to believe the universe wasn't static

但這數學方程是被一位不想相信宇宙不是靜態的科學家有意地捏造的，

and what was that name of that idiot who ruined Einstein's math?

而這個破壞 Einstein 的數學方程的笨蛋叫甚麼名字呢？

A man by the name of Albert Einstein.

一個名叫 Albert Einstein 的男人。

Einstein called his creation of his cosmological constant

Einstein 稱他的創作，宇宙常數，

"The greatest blunder of his career"

是「他職業生涯最大的錯誤」

and as a result, has been doomed to obscurity.

因此，這注定要變成難解之謎。

So, if the universe has a beginning, then what does that mean for how it will end?

所以，如果宇宙有起點，那麼它會怎麼結束呢？

Where is this all going?

這一切會跑到哪去？

Well that nut's a little tougher to crack.

嗯，那個難題有點難以破解。

At first, it was thought there was two possibilities.

首先，普遍來說有兩個可能。

If the universe has enough stuff in it, gravity slows the expansion, and eventually it will collapse into a singularity and maybe even another big bang.

如果宇宙裡有足夠多的物質，重力會減緩擴張，最終就會瓦解為一個奇點，甚至可能會發生另一個大爆炸。

This is elegant, and beautiful, and makes wonderful, satisfying sense.

這個結果相當優雅、美妙，而且相當合理、令人滿意。

Unfortunately, the universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.

不幸地是，宇宙沒有義務讓你覺得有意義。

And the other possibility is happening.

而另一個可能性正在發生。

The universe isn't just expanding, it's accelerating.

宇宙不只是在擴張，它正在加速擴張。

What's driving the acceleration? What is making space itself expand like the surface of an inflating balloon?

是甚麼驅使它加速？是甚麼使太空自己像膨脹的氣球表面一樣擴張？

We have no idea.

我們不知道。

Our best guess is some, as yet, unexplained source of energy snappily known as "dark energy."

我們猜測最好的理由是還無法明確解釋的「暗能量」。

So, if everything keeps going the way it is, it looks like the universe could expand and exist forever.

所以，如果一切繼續如此保持下去，看起來宇宙可能會繼續擴張並永遠存在。

Whether life can exist forever is a different story.

至於生命可否永遠存續下去就是另一件事了。

Our sun will exhaust it's fuel in about 5 billion years, while much smaller red dwarfs will use their fuel in trillions of years.

我們的太陽大約 50 億年後會耗盡能量，而較小的紅矮星能量可以使用數萬億年。

That is an incomprehensibly long time, but that time will come nonetheless.

那是一個不可思議的漫長時間，但終究會到來。

Black holes will still be doing stuff; radiating particles back into the void,

黑洞仍然會發揮作用，輻射微粒會回到太空中，

but even supermassive black holes will dissipate after googols of years.

但即使是質量巨大的黑洞也會在時間洪流中消失。

Eventually entropy will spread energy uniformly across the universe and it just won't be possible to do literally anything.

最後熵將使能量均勻地散佈在整個宇宙中，然後甚麼事也做不了。

So life as we know it, is 'kaput'.

所以生命就像我們所知的，「完蛋了」。

This is called the "Heat Death of the universe"

這就是所謂的「宇宙的熱寂」

or "The Big Freeze"

或是「大凍結」

and it looks like we're headed that way.

而且看起來我們正朝那個方向前進。

An international team of astronomers just studied the energy output from two hundred thousand galaxies

一個國際天文學家團隊剛研究了二十萬個星系的能量產出，

and discovered its half of what it was just two billion years ago.

而且發現它是二十億年前的一半。

We're apparently in the midst of a steep decline but eventually it will slow down

顯然我們正處於急遽下降的趨勢中，但最終會緩下來的，

as only the biggest black holes are left petering out.

因為只會剩下最大的黑洞。

That is one way the universe could end ...

那是宇宙滅亡的其中一條路 ...

not with a bang but a whimper ...

不是轟轟烈烈地死去，而是低鳴而死 ...

but we don't know enough about dark energy to assume it's going to keep acting the way it does.

但我們對於暗能量的瞭解還不足以假設它會一直保持如此。

Maybe it'll slow or even reverse and we'll get a big crunch or a cyclical universe

或許它會變慢或甚至逆轉，我們會面臨一個關鍵時刻或是一個周期性的宇宙

or maybe everything, even atoms themselves, will get ripped to shreds.

或是所有事物，甚至原子本身，都會被撕碎。

Remember I said dark energy is making space itself expand?

記得我說過暗能量使太空自己擴張嗎？

Things aren't just moving away from us. Space itself is growing.

所有東西不只是在遠離我們。太空它自己在成長。

It stretches at about 70.4 kilometers per second per megaparsec

它大約以 70.4 公里每秒每百萬秒差距膨脹。(parsec，秒差距，是一個宇宙距離尺度，用以測量太陽系以外天體的長度單位。)

which means that if you had two objects a megaparsec apart with no velocities relative to each other

意思是如果你有兩個物體距離一百萬秒差距，彼此之間沒有速度，

every second they would get 70.4 kilometers farther away.

它們之間每秒會多 70.4 公里的距離。

A megaparsec is 3.3 million light years though so it's a very tiny inflation.

每百萬秒差距是 330 萬光年， 所以這是個很微小的膨脹。

Over smaller distances other forces like gravity or the strong nuclear force

在更小的距離上有其他作用力，像重力或強力的核力，

means the expansion of space doesn't affect atoms or solid objects.

意思是太空的擴張不會影響原子或是固體。

Dark energy could become more dense, though,

但暗能量可能會變得密度更高，

and given long enough the stars, planets, even atoms, could be ripped apart.

而且時間夠長的話，星星、行星甚至原子都可能被撕裂。

This is called "The Big Rip."

這被稱為「大解體」。

As you can tell, dark matter is the linchpin of these two theories and there's still more possibilities.

如你所知，暗物質是這兩個理論的關鍵，而且一直到我們了解暗能量以前，我們不知道會發生甚麼事。

One of them, cosmic uncertainty, essentially throws its hands in the air and says we don't know what will happen until we understand dark energy.

其中之一是，宇宙的不確定性，本質上是把我們的手放到空中然後說，我們不知道會發生甚麼事，直到我們了解暗能量為止。

So, clearly, figuring out this stuff will tell us a lot about our future.

所以，很明顯地，了解這個東西可以告訴我們未來很多事。

Well maybe not our future. You and I will be long gone by the time any of these

嗯，或許不是我們的未來。你跟我在任何一個情境之前，可能早就化為灰燼了，

scenarios would play out and the human race itself may have vanished or evolved into something unrecognizable.

人類物種自己可能已經滅絕或進化成某個無法辨認的物種了。

Sadly, nobody lives to see the future but it's going to be a really interesting place.

很遺憾，沒人能活著看到這樣的未來，但這真的是很有趣。

So, that covers many of the prevailing ideas on how the universe will end but what happens when YOU end?

所以，那涵蓋了許多宇宙會如何結束的主流觀點，但你的生命結束的時候會發生甚麼事呢？

Trace talks about that here:

想要了解的話，看看這影片：

Firstly, at death all your muscles relax.

首先，死亡時你所有的肌肉都會鬆弛。

It takes burning oxygen for energy to keep you tense: no O2, no tension.

要保持肌肉緊繃需要燃燒氧氣製造能量：沒有氧氣、沒有肌肉緊繃。

This includes the body's sphincters which is why death often causes defecation and incontinence.

這包括人體的括約肌，這就是為什麼死亡經常導致排便和大小便失禁。

Where do you think the universe is going? Let us know in the comments or Facebook or Twitter @dnews.

你覺得宇宙會擴張到哪裡去呢？留言讓我們知道，或到 Facebook 或 Twitter @dnews 留言讓我們知道。

Subscribe for more answers to life's questions big and small and we'll see you next time on DNews.

訂閱頻道以了解人生各種大小事，下回 DNews 見。