The universe might be breaking its own most fundamental law
In short: We are taught that energy can never be created or destroyed. It is the bedrock of physics, governing everything from your morning coffee to the orbits of planets. Yet, when we look at the cosmos as a whole, this ironclad rule appears to shatter.
The principle of energy conservation relies on the existence of an isolated system—a space where no matter or energy enters or leaves. While our daily lives and even the quantum world follow these rules perfectly, the universe presents a unique problem. In quantum mechanics, for instance, the Schrodinger equation explicitly defines energy as the sum of kinetic and potential energies, ensuring conservation at the micro-scale.
The breakdown occurs at the macro-scale governed by Albert Einstein’s general relativity. His field equations do not state that energy remains constant; instead, they dictate that the combination of energy and momentum remains zero. This means that in an expanding universe, energy can change as long as it balances against momentum. Consequently, the universe is likely not a well-defined isolated system where total energy stays fixed.
Two major observations highlight this discrepancy. First, space itself has energy density. As the universe expands, its volume increases while its energy density remains constant, meaning the total amount of energy in the universe is actually increasing. Second, light from distant galaxies undergoes redshift as it travels through expanding spacetime. This stretching of wavelengths means the light loses energy. Contrary to some theories, this lost energy does not simply convert into dark energy; it appears to vanish from our perspective.
Because we cannot see beyond the cosmic event horizon—which marks the edge of our observable universe at about 94 billion light years in diameter—we cannot define the boundaries of the entire system. If the universe is infinite, then the violation of energy conservation may not just be a theoretical quirk, but a fundamental reality of our existence.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: How Our Universe Violates a Fundamental Law of Physics! Energy Conservation
- Also: Does the Universe Violate the Laws of Thermodynamics?
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