User:Max2albert/sandbox

Planck-scale physics is the study of the universe at the smallest possible scales. It is relevant to quantum gravity and to philosophy of physics and to physical cosmology at the largest scales.

There is a growing consensus among physicists that space is granular rather than continuous and so has a smallest size, named after its first proponent, Max Planck. The ultimate fate of the universe is dependent on the shape of the universe and what role dark energy will play as the universe ages.

Theory


The theoretical scientific exploration of the ultimate fate of the universe became possible with Albert Einstein's 1916 theory of general relativity. General relativity can be employed to describe the universe on the largest possible scale. There are many possible solutions to the equations of general relativity, and each solution implies a possible ultimate fate of the universe. Alexander Friedmann proposed a number of such solutions in 1922 as did Georges Lemaître in 1927. In some of these, the universe has been expanding from an initial singularity; this is, essentially, the Big Bang.