The Fate of the Universe - Part 1 of 2

What is the ultimate fate of the universe? The Big Bang could end either by expanding to a maximum size followed by re-collapse (the Big Crunch), or eternally expanding to a cold, dark, disordered state (the Big Chill). Which of these is our future depends on the density of matter and energy in the universe, Omega0. This lecture examines our current knowledge of the matter and energy content of the universe, which leads to the surprising discovery that we live in a flat (Omega0=1) universe dominated today by Dark Energy that will expand forever at an ever accelerating rate. We will end the lecture by exploring the ultimate fate of an infinite accelerating universe.
Recorded 2015 August 20 by Prof. Richard Pogge, The Ohio State University, Department of Astronomy, as part of the GE Online course Astronomy 1101.