What is the oscillating universe theory?
The oscillatory universe theory is a hypothesis credited to Richard Tolman who saw it as a possible outcome of the Big Bang. One implication of the Big Bang Theory is that the universe may grow cold and dark and die an ultimate heat death. This will happen if the universe expands forever. Although this scenario will destroy all life and the ability of the universe to do work, the universe itself would survive for an infinite period of time. This would be the outcome if the expansion of the universe were what scientists call flat or open. Alternatively, in a closed universe the expansion will eventually stop. In this scenario the universe will begin to contract once expansion ends. Although contraction would be very slow at first the contraction rate would accelerate and grow hotter and brighter until it ends in the Big Crunch, in which it implodes into a singularity and gets crushed out of existence. However, some scientists speculate that the Big Crunch would not signal the end. They
