How long have we got before Earth is destroyed?

Question

How long has the human race before the Sun explodes and renders our home a burning chunk of space debris. Will the human race survive?

Answer 1

Hi, it has been estimated that the sun will super-nova in around 5 billion years time but before that happens , the Earth will be subjected to massive radiation as the Sun starts it's destabilisation process.
This, of course, assumes that we aren't destroyed by our own sins and shortcomings such as global nuclear war, or being struck by a sizeable metor or asteroid, which would ultimately cause a situation similar to a nuclear winter or a new Ice Age. Of course, nuclear war is the closest we can imagine causing the destruction of humankind unless they have found a way of protecting a select group of people to continue the human genome in this event. For the meantime, consider the biblical prospect of Armageddon per the attached link, and live for today.

Answer 2

I think it's about 2 billion years. It is not before the sun explodes, it is before the sun, having run out of hydrogen to do hyrogen fusion, goes on to carbon fusion and in the process inflates to become a "giant red" star, larger than where the Earth orbits right now. As it grows larger the climate on Earth will become very, very hot. And when it gets close enough, the Earth will just fall into the sun.

If we don't destroy ourselves with a nuclear war, or by completely depleting our resources, this should leave us more than ample time for, say, develop civilised air travel (not those poor rockets peaking at a couple miles per second and needing forever to reach the closest stars), and possibly establish colonies far away.

Answer 3

If the sun explodes whilst humans are still in existence, then no, we will not survive, as sunlight is vital to us- we need it for everything, from growing food to maintaining our own bodies.

However, if the sun did explode, we would have a few days to still enjoy ourselves, as we wouldn't know about it til a few days later. So.... (sinister music...) it could have exploded already....

This is due to the speed of light. It takes a long time for the light from the sun to get to us.

Having said that, I think the human race will have wiped itself out long before the sun packs up.

Answer 4

There is an asteroid that, as we speak, is on a collision course with Earth. However, it will not reach our orbit until the year 2029. That is within our lifetime but space centres and top aerospace scientists are working constantly towards a solution. Think about how technology has advanced in the last 10 years. We better hope that over the next 23 years we have a solution. I am sure we will. For reference the asteroid is the size of France and will most certainly be an extinction event.

Answer 5

Its a relative concept. It depends whether humans change their ways and start looking after the earth and stop abusing it. However if the sun did explode, there is no way that the human race would survive.

Answer 6

I have heard estimates of around 5 billion years before the sun goes nova.

Within the next 300 or so we are expecting a pole shift.. so aurora borealis gets to be at several points between poles & equators. The field is an RC circuit so it has to switch soon. There will be a higher incidence of cancers then.

We may or may not be due for a major asteroid impact.

Most reasonable estimates of world oil say it should start seriously running out in the next 10 years. It should be gone by the end of this century. Most of western civilization depends on it for fuel, fertilizer, lubricant for machines, medicines, and semiconductors. When its gone most transportation, energy, industry, food, medicine, and technology get to go away too. Without a solid replacement in time it could be much worse than y2k was imagined to be.

Water on the planet is getting bad, and its going to have cascading ecological effects. Disease rates from polluted water have doubled in the last 50 years in third world countries. Air is also getting more polluted, and may also be going away.

Answer 7

Well we are long overdue for a beating from some asteroids - if we get hit by one of them i doubt very much we'd survive. Certainly there may be some life left - probably bacteria. I think it will be either that or freak weather that destroys the human race - you know, like another ice age or a massive earthquake or volcanic erruption of a supervolcano...i think all of these things would be a horrifying prospect so if they were going to happen, i think i might rather not know about it!! I dont think the sun will burn out for a few hundred thousand if not million years so dont worry about that!

Answer 8

My first point is that, Heaven went evil or bad because of SATAN not satin I don't believe to be a true heaven. Every religion has some sort of type of nirvana they would call heaven, and if so many are trying to get to heaven by practicing religion is so that they can get there. Heaven did not go bad, Heaven tossed bad on the curb with the rest of the trash. God is the alpha and omega, the first and the last, and the beginning and the end. You are saying you in the question to all who look at it, which seems to indicate that you feel your not part of this and maybe you think you are already going. No one is going to be able to be able to put a time frame on nit. It could be seconds or a lifetime as it feels. You have three groups, the ones who were loyal and go to Heaven, the ones who do not have the mark of the beast but yet do not acknowledge the Lord or Satan will be made an example of, and I believe that is their heads on spikes, and the last is the group that carries the mark of the devil will serve the devil until the Lord thy God smites Satan back to where he needs to be or destroys him. But to put a time reference on nit?? I think if ever it would not be livable on for thousands or millions of years.

Answer 9

The earth itself will not be totally destroyed till the sun starts the death process of a star of its type and mass (class G) so not till the sun turns into a red giant star in the stage of its death and the outer reaches of the sun practically touches the earth. Then the earth will be sucked in and heated till its totally vaporized (with all and everything on it and in it.) This will take about 4.5 billion years. For us members of the Homo sapience species, how long we have? depends on many things including how many religious zealots and intellectually challenges presidents and rulers we put in charge and how much and firmly they believe in Armageddon and how much they try to fulfill their personal views of the bible.
Sometime I wish Mr Bush goes back to drinking.

Answer 10

Around five billion years. (5,000,000,000)

The Earth will exist longer than the human race, I believe. However, if humans still exist five billion years from now and they are still confined to this planet or even this solar system, I do not believe it will be possible for them to survive.