The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.
Member-only story
Ask Ethan: Will the Universe run out of hydrogen?
The most common element in the Universe, vital for forming new stars, is hydrogen. But there’s a finite amount of it; what if we run out?
Nothing in this Universe lasts forever, no matter how large, massive, or enduring it appears to be. Every star that’s ever born will someday run out of fuel in its core and die. Every galaxy that’s actively forming stars will someday run out of star-forming material and cease doing so. And every light that shines will someday cool off and go dark. If we wait long enough, there will be nothing to see, observe, or even extract energy from; when it reaches a state of maximal entropy, the cosmos will achieve a “heat death,” the inevitable final-stage in our cosmic evolution.
But what, exactly, does that mean for the simplest atom of all: hydrogen, the most common element in the Universe since the start of the Big Bang? That’s what Bill Thomson wants to know, writing in to ask:
“I read somewhere that eventually all the hydrogen in the universe will be consumed and will no longer be available to fuel the stars. Presumably all the hydrogen will be used up in the furnaces of the multi-trillions of stars. Do you think this is possible?”
