The Universe may have a ‘self destruct button’ that could wipe out all life in the blink of an eye, scientists warn
Terrifying theory says a random effect in the smallest particle could unleash an Armageddon 'death sphere' that destroys everything in the cosmos
NO need to panic, but scientists reckon the universe may have a "self-destruct button" - and all life and everything we know could be wiped out in the blink of an eye.
A "death sphere" expanding at the speed of light would obliterate our solar system and all the galaxies, and even subatomic particles - the building blocks of all matter - would cease to exist as a tsunami of annihilation rippled through the cosmos.
The theory behind this doomsday scenario is explained in a new , which has so far racked up almost two million views.
It is based on the principle that all systems - physical, chemical and nuclear - naturally want to shed energy to reach a stable lower state.
So, raised weights want to fall, explosives want to combust and nuclear warheads want to go off - all that's needed is a trigger.
According to Kurzgesagt: "The higher the energy level, the more energy that’s in a system."
This ground state theory is believed to hold true even in the strange world of quantum mechanics, which dictates how the universe works on the subatomic scale.
Systems containing elementary particles are trying to reach their lowest possible energy state, called their vacuum state or ground state.
One theory suggests that stable particles exist in a dip in the Higgs field - the quantum field that gives particles their mass.
This dip is like a valley half-way up a mountain - though you appear to be at the lowest point, there is a steep drop on the other side of the ridge and a kick up over the edge would send you plummeting off a cliff.
In the Higgs field, dropping from the false vacuum dip to the true vacuum state would release vast amounts of energy - unleashing an unstoppable chain reaction in the surrounding space that would bring total Armageddon.
The video explains: "A sphere of the new stable Higgs field, or true vacuum, grows at the speed light in all directions."
If they are possible, one or several of these death spheres may already have popped into existence and would be now racing towards us at the speed of light.
When it comes, annihilation would be instantaneous and we would never see it coming.
Physicists are unsure what could kickstart this process of vacuum decay, but one way could be through a random process known as quantum tunnelling in which the uncertain nature of particles mean they can "tunnel" through a barrier that in classical physics would be insurmountable.
It is the process that sparks nuclear fusion at the core of the Sun and other stars.
But there's no need to fret, Kurzgesagt say.
As the video reassures viewers: "If you feel slightly worried now, don’t be.
"At this point false vacuum is speculation based on our current understanding of particle physics, which might be wrong."
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