What do you think is the mostly likely way for the earth to "end."?

Question

Please tell me some of your thoughts on how Earth might end. I have provided some of my own.
1. A third world war will destroy the Earth probably with a large nuclear explosion.
2. The Earth will continue to become hotter and life will not be able to live.
3. In about 8 billion years the sun will explode causing nuclear radiation to flood the Earth killing life.

If you disagre with any of my ideas please tell me and explain why. Please tell me your ideas about how the Earth might end.

Do you think we can prevent or prolong a disaster like the ones mentioned by me and other answeres?

Answer 1

Scientists say that the sun is expanding due to the winding down of it's energy. Some suggest that the effects of the sun will remain constant on the earth for a long time, due to the fact that as it expands, the radiation decreases. So I doubt it will be the cause of Earth's demise.

It's possible that the Earth has undergone a couple of transformations in it's existance. It might even swelter with heat once more, and be covered with lava once again, starting the process of the genesis of life all over again. If all life ceases to exist on Earth, wouldn't that be the same as the Earth "ending"?

As for an absolute end, I'm sure that one day the sun will finally engulf the Earth. But before then, any number of things can happen. For one, any large rock even half the size of the moon carries enough inertia to cause the Earth to explode when moving at normal astronomical velcities. The core of Earth could also reach nuclear temperatures and set off a matter absorbing chain reaction.

Human beings, though wiley and resourceful could never have a powerful enough effect on the Earth to destroy it. While there are "enough nuclear weapons to destroy the Earth 22 times over", this would simply destroy the surface, and would probably not have a real effect on the structure of the Earth itself. It would take roughly 2.24*10^32 Joules of energy to annihalate the Earth.

My theory is that the sun will become so hot that we will just die off, and life will begin somewhere else in the universe. Won't matter for us, unless you believe Revelation in the Bible. Humanity might just attempt a Battlestar Galactica style retreat to some nearby system by then and be able to colonize another planet or moon. Who knows? There's so many choices, I wouldn't even know where to begin deciding on one...

Answer 2

Assuming we are not hit by a large asteroid or comet, there are several natural catastrophes in our future. First, our sun is getting hotter, it has been since it was born. It gets hotter by about 30% every billion years. In another billion years or so it will be too hot for life on this planet. Second, our entire galaxy is on a collision course with one of our neighbor galaxies, Andromeda. We will collide in about 3 billion years which could result in a star or black hole colliding with our sun which would spell the end for us. Third, our sun will become a red giant engulfing the orbits of mercury Venus and earth in about 5 billion years, this will fry what is left of our planet. Of course, we will all be long gone by then, and who knows if there will even be humans any more at that point in time. We might just poison ourselves long before any of those natural catastrophes hit.

Happy new years!

Answer 3

I believe Robert Frost said it best:

Some say the world will end in Fire, Some say in Ice
I hold with those who favor fire
But if the world were to perish twice, I think that ice would be nice
and would sufice.

*#3 will not occur before #2 as the sun would expand to engulf the orbit of Venus before it explodes (by which time radiation will evaporate all water on this little planet. As for #1,... I surely hope we as a civilization are not dumb enough to do that to ourselves.
Most likely, we will get to the point that we have such a huge population that we use up all our natural resources and polution will make anything else unusable.

Answer 4

well mine r...
1. A comet might hit us
2. in around 4 billion years the sun will explode causing supernova(yea what u kinda mentioned)
3. a nuclear war(i think this is more likely)
4. a black hole entering our galaxy messing up gravity and moving stuff at us.
5. i think not sure in about 2 billion years our universe will stop expanding and everything the big bang created will pull back together and probably form a star.

ur option 2: i think global warming wont kill us or at least make earth so hot instead we r gonna get hotter summers and colder winters.

Answer 5

Hmm, I would say an asteroid hit might be more likely. There's a whole lot out there that can possibly head for us. And our technology isn't up to prevent a collision right now.

For the first two, if humans use common sense and clean up their act then it probably wouldn't happen.

As for the third, that's so far in the future I'm hoping that our race has advanced enough for space flight to leave this dust ball when it does happen.

Answer 6

I hope and pray I am wrong, but I think in less than 50 years there will be no "Earth" anymore, because a giant meteorite will slam into Earth causing it to be completely destroyed and broken into millions of pieces. Again, I hope and pray it never happeneds, but a lot of information (most of it speculation !) tends to point to the end of Earth within this time-frame. Unfortunately, even with modern technology, we will not be able to prevent such a catastrophe and the Earth will be completely destroyed !

Answer 7

Well, are you talking about Human's end or the Earth coming to an end??
Humans will probably kill ourselves because of either global warming, or nuclear war.
The Earth will be destroyed when our Sun goes Supernova billions of years from now.

The Sun will take up the first three planet's space and so destroy the first three planets, we're the third.

Enjoy it while it lasts! :D

Answer 8

I even have examine that the earth won't "end"; and that guy is ineffective to think of we are able to wipe out our planet. existence will proceed to alter with the aid of fact of organic earth cycles and failures. possibly there will be a disease that ought to kill off guy. possibly we are able to wreck many varieties of existence right here; yet existence will regrow or evolve and pass on. yet i think of, regardless of if we've been to have yet another ice age, there will be adult men that proceed to exist on the earth. i think of there is evidence of historic civilizations that weren't laid low with the final ice age. this is complicated to locate people who have self assurance this. It does not tie in with the scientific and non secular histories we are taught.

Answer 9

my guesses are:
a gamma ray burst
the sun entering a red giant phase engulfing earth
a meteor shower
global warming
an alien invasion

its possibale other life forms exist. there are other living species some where in the universe

Answer 10

I'd say option three is most likely, as the other two would mostly affect Human, Plant and Animal life, as opposed to the whole planet.