When will the sun blow up?

Question

I know this will happen, I just don't know when. Will there be any events before this that will wipe out the human race(not counting war)?

Answer 1

The earth and human race can be eliminated by various things, both internally and externally. Internaly our earth could lose heat and use up valuable resources due to pollution and over production. Externally comets and meteors could crash into earth. The sun wont blow up for a few more million years so you dont have to worry about that.

Answer 2

I would not worry about this event (the Sun's detonation). It is
projected to occur sometime after five billion years from now. So, none of us will be alive to witness it. In fact, significant changes will have been occurring leading up to the death of our Star which will wipe humanity off the face of the Earth well before the death of the Sun. Chief among those changes will be the growth of the Sun in our sky. It is projected to grow 1000 times (or more) larger than it appears today. That increase in size will make the slight changes in Global Warming we see today look like peanuts to the massive heating of Earth that will occur. Imagine the entire surface of the Earth looking like a chunk of coke. The Sun has existed for some 4.6 Billion years and is forecasted to stay the same for another 5 billion years. Reference Page 84 - 85,
Astronomy, Ian Ridpath, DK Publishing, New York, NY.

Certainly there will be massive climate changes prior to this. Any significant change in solar heating of the Earth affects all living things. Exactly how and when those changes will develop is an educated guess, and no direct answers can be given. Sorry.

Regards,
Zah

Answer 3

Dude, there are unlimited possibilities when talking about human extinction. One of the possibilities that sticks out is an asteroid colliding with the Earth. There was an asteroid discovered in 2004 that is suppossed to come near the Earth in 2029. Its name is apophus. If it doesnt hit Earth in 2029, it is possible that it will make contact in the 2030's. Scientists were shaken up at first, but finally came to the conclusion that this asteroid has a very small chance of hitting the Earth on either of these 2 dates.
This is one possibility, but like I said, there are unlimited possibilites. Global warming could destroy the human race.
Oh, and the sun isnt going to blow up for billions of years. It will go through different faces that will eventually lead to its demise over a period of billions of years. And I forget what scientists said it will do, but I believe it just gets larger and larger, then goes into a phase where it gets less brighter. Ultimately it just burns out or something. Before then, we need to establish a universal civilization.

Answer 4

The sun will blow up in Millions of years, scientists say the sun still is about 9,000 degrees F. Also, if the sun blows up, the particles from the explosion could fuse and build a new sun.

Answer 5

The Sun will not exactly blow up, it will just get hotter and hotter and bigger and bigger until it is a red giant star. That will happen in several billion years. See the first source. The gradual warming will doom all life on Earth in one billion years or less, long before the red giant stage is reached.

There is a good article in the October 2002 Sky and Telescope that talks about this. You can see the intro to the story online for free at the second source but you will need to either pay for the complete online text or go to the library and read the magazine to get the full story. It is worth the trip, IMO. Great article.

Answer 6

The sun will not explode, but it will become a bloated red giant. During this phase some of its outer layers will float away into interstellar space forming a planetary nebula. Earth will be roasted to a crisp due to its proximity to the sun (Venus and Mercury will almost certainly be swallowed completely by the sun).

The moons of Jupiter and Saturn may become warm enough for life at that point, although the sun's size and thermal output will vary widely as it runs out of fuel. Eventually, it will run out of fuel, and shrink down into a white dwarf. It will continue to shine for billions of years afterwards, slowly cooling and darkening over time.

Interestingly, they can have atmospheres and differentiate into levels of differeng density, aka, heavier elements work their way toward the plasma core, eventually "crystallizing" out as the stellar corpse cools. The stellar corspe represents only a fraction of the initial star's mass, most of it having been flung into space or converted into energy (via nuclear fusion).

Not even the sun lasts forever.

Answer 7

the sun will blow up because I'm in 5th grade and my friend told me that the sun will blow up in 15 billion years so we will have 14 billions years left

Answer 8

Our sun is too small to blow up. Only stars much more massive than our sun (at least 9 times as big) blow up as supernovas after they go through a sequence of being red giants and a red supergiant.

Stars the size of our sun expand later in life to become red giants (as they begin to run out of hydrogen fuel). This won't happen for billions of years but when it does it will push out the Earth to a new orbit and likely fry the oceans right off of it (if they still exist) with the increase in radiation. After that it will star to fuse ("burn") helium and eventually will begin to shed its layers as a planetary nebula.

Answer 9

The sun will not "blow up." It would need at least 1.5 times more mass for that to happen (..called a 'supernova') In about 4.5-billion years the sun will experience a series of expansions and shrinkages as it gradually runs out of fuel. Finally it will end up as what's called a 'white dwarf' star, about the same diameter as Earth.

Answer 10

the estimated time frame is around 15+ billion years or so. The thing that will wipe out the human race...if it survives that long will be the exposure to extreme uv rays and heat. the core tempature of the earth will rise to the point that nothing will survive....just think of mercury, it will be about the same.