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Comment by jdimov10 | Hacker News Reader

I don't get the "running out of fuel" argument... If the universe (as assumed in the text) is infinitely old and infinitely large, why should there be any scarcity of nuclear fuel?

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Most stars we see are burning Hydrogen, possibly helium, in a process of gravity well driven nuclear fusion. This fusion results in heavier atomic particles and some waste that we see as radiation (light, heat, various forms of EM energy).

I am not an astrophysicist, nor am I an expert in the early universe, but I recall that the prevailing theories of our time are that somehow the universe came in to being with predominantly hydrogen atoms. These combine through fusion in what we call stars to form denser matter. This process continues until the result of combining the elements reaches a limit. I believe that iron happens to be that limit if I recall correctly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_peak

Describes what I recall reading/hearing many years ago.

Stars fuse light elements it into heavier elements. Eventually all the lighter elements will be used up.

One of my favorite short stories about this is The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

http://multivax.com/last_question.html

I think they were saying if we're conceding infinite size and an infinite number of stars, why not an infinite amount of those lighter elements as well?

Imagine an infinite space divided in infinite number of finite volumes each containing a finite number of "lighter elements". All the light elements form a star in their local volume and burn up all the light elements locally. The result: all the infinite number of finite volumes are void of the light elements. The infinite space is dark.

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