what are some facts supporting the Big Rip?

[youroriginal]

so im quite curious (not a physics or astronomy student) and even after some research on the internet i am still slightly confused. can anyone give some brief explanations of facts that support the big rip?

[mathematic]

Dark energy, which pushes things apart, is growing as a fraction of the total mass-energy of the universe. At sometime in the future it would be big enough to overcome all other forces, which hold things together.

[Bender]

Of course, this require extrapolating observed facts far outside the observed range. We might just as well end in a "big freeze", where everything continues to move apart, but not necessarily rip apart on smaller scale.

[imatfaal]

Of course, this require extrapolating observed facts far outside the observed range. We might just as well end in a "big freeze", where everything continues to move apart, but not necessarily rip apart on smaller scale.

 

Agreed - in the absence of real knowledge I still think this is the most supported idea; in the end, there will just be blackholes slowly radiating the last of their mass off as very very long wave radiation.

 

BTW - this is kinda presuming that there is proton decay - and I am not sure that anyone has seen this yet