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Can Our Universe Destroy Itself? #shorts


less than 1m read
·Oct 29, 2024

Can our universe destroy itself? Everything in the universe strives to be in the most stable state possible. For example, a ball on top of a hill is in an unstable state. When pushed, it will roll downhill, lose its potential energy, and end up in a stable ground state.

The same principle applies to quantum fields, which are fundamental concepts in quantum physics and exist throughout our entire universe. They want to be in the most stable state as well. However, one quantum field, the Higgs field, might not yet be in the state of lowest possible energy. Imagine a piece of cloth soaked in gasoline; all it needs is a spark to catch fire.

Hypothetically, this Higgs field could be disturbed so that it falls into a more stable state. This would look like a bubble growing at the speed of light, annihilating everything in its path, destroying the entire universe as we know it. But don't panic; a more stable Higgs field that destroys everything is just a theory. There's a lot about particle and quantum physics we still don't know, but that won't stop us from wondering.

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