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Universe Closer To Heat Death Than Once Thought

Posted by Soulskill on from the we're-doomed dept.

TapeCutter writes "In a paper soon to be published (PDF) in the Astrophysical Journal, Australian researchers have estimated the entropy of the universe is about 30 times higher than previous estimates. According to their research, super-massive black holes 'are the largest contributor to the entropy of the observable universe, contributing at least an order of magnitude more entropy than previously estimated.' For those of us who like their science in the form of a car analogy, Dr. Lineweaver compared their results to a car's gas tank. He states, 'It's a bit like looking at your gas gauge and saying "I thought I had half a gas tank, but I only have a quarter of a tank."'" Fortunately, that quarter of a tank will still get us as far as we need to go and then some.

19 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. OMG!!! by click2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So as well as peak oil now we have to worry about peak universe?

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    1. Re:OMG!!! by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...don't worry, the free market will save the universe (by making it so damned expensive to live here that corporations will arise and find us other universes to exploit, naturally...)

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    2. Re:OMG!!! by Drethon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Peak universe happened at the big bang, its all been down hill from there... reminds me of a marriage.

  2. Entropy increasing, Slashdot-style by Angst+Badger · · Score: 4, Funny

    So how much entropy does the fact that this story is a duplicate add to the universe?

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    1. Re:Entropy increasing, Slashdot-style by ryanvm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER

      [Grrr. Have to thwart the anti-caps filter. Thx Slashdot - Destroyer of Jokes.]

    2. Re:Entropy increasing, Slashdot-style by jbezorg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm gonna cry if entropy ever becomes "the new CO2".

      Well, we were going to stage a protest to have the government stop the eventual heat death of the universe, but then we realized the energy spent in actually carrying through with the protest and the bureaucracy needed to legislate it would hasten the eventual heat death of the universe by a factor of 100.

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    3. Re:Entropy increasing, Slashdot-style by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Informative

      Entropy is actually "the old CO2". Enough of the fundamentals of thermodynamics had been worked out by the Victorian period that the prospect of the "heat death" of the universe became visible. Life is a comparatively low entropy state. Entropy in a closed system increases over time. Game over, man. Game over. There was a certain amount of fretting about this.

      Nobody(outside of physicists doing thought experiments and Kurzweil planning his next move) really cares anymore; because subsequent research has uncovered such a long list of stuff that will almost definitely kill us before the heat death of the universe does.

    4. Re:Entropy increasing, Slashdot-style by bluie- · · Score: 5, Informative

      best short story ever.

      --
      life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think
  3. 30x higher than whose estimate? by neurogeneticist · · Score: 5, Informative

    So is this 30x higher than the 100x higher that was reported here on Slashdot a few months ago? http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/10/06/1641232/Universe-Has-100x-More-Entropy-Than-We-Thought

  4. As far as we need to go? by Steve+Baker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    > Fortunately, that quarter of a tank will still get us as far as we need to go and then some.

    And where is it that we're going?

    1. Re:As far as we need to go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Fortunately, that quarter of a tank will still get us as far as we need to go and then some.

      And where is it that we're going?

      Oblivion.

    2. Re:As far as we need to go? by joss · · Score: 4, Funny

      to the grave

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    3. Re:As far as we need to go? by ThePlague · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, of course.

  5. Does it bother anyone else by plover · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it bother anyone else that a guy named "Lineweaver" is making a car analogy that doesn't involve alcohol?

    --
    John
  6. "Fortunately"?! by brian0918 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fortunately, that quarter of a tank will still get us as far as we need to go and then some.

    Yes, fortunately for us, maybe... but what about our children's children's children's ... (* 10^80) children? Won't someone please think of them?!?!

  7. Oh noes! by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You mean we may never make it to:

    - seeing a computer which can run Crysis?
    - Duke Nukem: Forever release date?
    - Hurd 1.0?
    - kdawson leaving a story alone and publishing something accurate?

    :-O

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  8. The universe could go back to low entropy by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just because the laws of physics IN THIS UNIVERSE prevent that doesn't mean it can't happen since by definition the low entropy state the universe started in was created (in some form) by alternative laws of physics possibly outside this universe since the laws we know didn't exist at that point.

    There's no reason why these alternative physical laws couldn't suddenly kick back in when the universe reaches a certain entropy state and start to reverse the whole process back to zero. Some people would say time would then be going in reverse but this doesn't need to be the case.

  9. no problem by ArcherB · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Considering that red dwarfs are expected to last trillions of years (no red dwarf has ever died. The universe is too young), we just need to move to a planet around one of them, assuming they have habitable planets.

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  10. two possible futures now cut shorter.... by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Star formation is believed to end about 10^14 years from now, the total entropy of universe only affects events after that. Not a worry. If protons decay with 10^32 year half-life, then practically all nucleons decay after 10^40 years, which leaves all black holes to evaporate after about 10^99 years.

    If protons don't decay as we suspect, then universe slowly tunnels to iron-56, (light nuclei via fusion and heavier via fission) in about 10^1500 years, which coalesce into black holes or neutron stars in about 10^10^76 years (yup, double exponent).

    So quite frankly, this bit about more entropy means little for life as we know it, though if life can arise by some heat-engine powered means (due to temperature differences only). still the time scales are staggering.

    but all mute if Big Rip is possible, we might only have 22 billion years left!:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rip