False vacuum decay

Imagine you're playing with a balloon that's filled with air. When the balloon is filled with air, it's in a stable state. But what would happen if you poked a tiny hole in the balloon that allows some air to escape? The air inside the balloon would start moving around, and the balloon might even pop. This is kind of like what happens with false vacuum decay.

In our universe, there's something called the vacuum state, which is the lowest possible energy state that particles can be in. But scientists have theorized that there could be a different kind of vacuum called the false vacuum. The false vacuum is like a balloon that's about to pop - it's not stable and could collapse into a lower energy state at any moment.

If the false vacuum were to collapse, it could release a huge amount of energy, like the air bursting out of the popped balloon. This energy release would cause a chain reaction, tearing apart particles and destroying everything in its path. This is called false vacuum decay.

Thankfully, this kind of decay is extremely rare and unlikely to happen anytime soon. Scientists are still studying the phenomenon and trying to understand how it works, so that they can better predict and prevent it from happening in the future.