No answers from those who don't know or think it will not end, or from those who say it's not important PLEASE. No philosophy or religion on this question please. I am only interested in those who have given it serious thought by now, and are able to envision how long the world will go on existing in actual time. Many Thanks.
2007-01-14 15:50:01 · 8 answers · asked by Dovey 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It depends on how you see the planet. With people and animals living on it much as they are now, "life as we know it" so to speak, maybe a couple hundred years. The climate appears to be changing already. Likely some people and some animals will survive but it will be different. If we don't survive, something is likely to survive. Perhaps ants and cockroaches will eventually become intelligent.
Short of some rogue asteroid, there isn't much to keep the Earth from circling the Sun until the Sun runs out of Hydrogen, its fusion engine breaks down and it expands to engulf the inner planets. That's predicted to be about 5 1/5 billion years. In the mean time, our orbit may change. Our rotation may slow down. All sorts of changes are possible. But Earth will probably still be there for quite a while.
2007-01-14 16:45:11 · answer #1 · answered by skepsis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This can be calculated with the life of the Sun. in 4-5 billion years, it (Sun)will enter a red giant phase, its outer layers expanding as the hydrogen fuel in the core is consumed and the core contracts and heats up. Helium fusion will begin when the core temperature reaches around 100 MK, and will produce carbon and oxygen. While it is likely that the expansion of the outer layers of the Sun will reach the current position of Earth's orbit, recent research suggests that mass lost from the Sun earlier in its red giant phase will cause the Earth's orbit to move further out, preventing it from being engulfed. However, Earth's water will be boiled away and most of its atmosphere will escape into space. Thus conditions on earth will not be suitable for life in the event of such extremes.
2007-01-18 17:50:40 · answer #2 · answered by anecentric 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
10-30 years and I am sorry but my faith requires me to have a Christian perspective on this matter. The Bible says that in the end times numerous earthquakes and natural disasters will occur and that is just the beginning, I can see the world ending in anywhere between 10 and 30 years. I really doubt that it will last to much longer than that...even though I say this, the Bible also says that no one know when the world will end, not the Son or anyone, but only the Father. I can't wait till Jesus comes back=)!!!Life is short. Pray HARD!
2007-01-15 00:39:11 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The human race could be gone within the next 100 years but the planet will live on. Life will evolve to live in the mess we leave behind. In another billion years intelligent life will probably destroy the earth again.
2007-01-14 23:54:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
the end of the planet will probably be in about 2 billion years when the sun goes red giant and engulfs the earth.
2007-01-15 00:32:32 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
By global warming...it is 2 centuries..
By asteroid colision it is 1.5 centuries but by then our technology would be enough to stop.
By supernova of sun...it is 4 billion years...get a hot cuppa tea..
By gamma ray burst ...it is 2 billion years...
by Moon desertion and unstable tilt it is 20 thousand years.
2007-01-15 00:11:07 · answer #6 · answered by KP-Rox 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in my opinion the end of civilization might happen at any moment. whether its a metior that wipes out the human race as it did to dinasours, a gamma ray burst, which is a collision of 2 stars that send off a violent explosion, or global warming. any thing is possibale
2007-01-15 10:41:26 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
3013AD June 22, 1725GMT
2007-01-14 23:57:49 · answer #8 · answered by sparkletina 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋