The big crunch refers to a hypothetical scenario in cosmology where the universe contracts and collapses under its own gravitational pull. According to this scenario, instead of expanding indefinitely, the expansion of the universe would eventually reverse direction and everything would collapse back in on itself. This would result in a dense and hot state known as a singularity, similar to the conditions at the beginning of the universe during the big bang. However, it is important to note that current observational evidence suggests that the universe is not heading toward a big crunch, but rather, it is expanding at an accelerating rate due to the influence of dark energy.
