I think this is physics based(?), but I thought of this question during my summer chemistry course, so I wasn’t sure of the flair.
In: Physics
That is a question that will probably win you a Nobel Prize if you can answer it. The reality is that nobody knows.
What you’re talking about is exactly the thing referred to as “dark energy.” The vacuum energy of the universe is, indeed, constant and the source of that energy is dark energy – “dark” here meaning “unknown”.
Side note: dark *matter* was originally called “dark” because scientists initially thought it was normal matter that is literally too dark to be seen on telescopes at the time, but that theory has been ruled out. Since then, “dark” in that context has taken on a new meaning which is “unknown” or “not understood” or “doesn’t interact with normal matter probably.” Dark matter and dark energy are not related (probably), they just share a similar name.
Dark energy might be the *cause* of the expansion. It could be that some constant source of energy is pumping energy into our universe, which causes its expansion the way blowing air into a balloon causes it to expand. Or, dark energy could just be a consequence of it – some property of spacetime causes vacuum energy to be constant, so as the universe expands dark energy is created by some unknown process or drawn in from some source outside of the universe – like how drawing a syringe pulls liquid into it.
It should also be noted that dark energy isn’t usable in any way. Energy only does work when it goes from places where there is more of it to places where there is less of it. The vacuum energy despite not being zero is still the least concentrated that energy can be, like the ocean being the lowest point that rivers flow too. So although dark energy means the energy of the vacuum remains constant the universe will still eventually run out of energy that *does* anything. Dark energy isn’t reversing entropy, in other words.
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