The earth will end when....?

Question

The sun gets to close? I have heard different stories could somebody explain and maybe a site I could read up on, thanks!

OK MAYBE I'LL MAKE IT MORE CLEAR, I KNOW IT'S NOT FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS I WOULD JUST LIKE TO READ UP ON IT.... O_O

Answer 1

Astrophysicists guess-timate that in approx 5 billion years the Sun will exhaust its hydrogen fuel. When this happens, hydrogen fusion [into helium] will stop, the surface will shrink until enough pressure is generated for helium fusion. When this happens, the Sun will turn into what is known as a Red Giant star. Its surface will be somewhere in between the current orbits of Earth and Mars. So, Mercury, Venus and Earth will have been vaporized as it grows to this stage.
That is one definite way the Earth will eventually come to an end. However, with part of human nature being trying to figure out how to annihilate other humans, we may blow ourselves up next Tuesday.

Answer 2

When the sun runs out of hydrogen fuel at its core, it will switch to helium burning and that will cause the outer shell of the sun to swell up and cool, turning the sun into a red giant. The sun isn't getting closer (in fact, since the sun will have lost some mass from the increased solar wind, Earth will actually have moved out a little further from the sun's centre than it is today). But the red giant phase is very big, engulfing Mercury and possibly even Venus. So even though its a little cooler than today the surface will be a lot closer than today and that will effectively fry the Earth - evaporating all the water on the planet and baking the surface.

Check out Astronomy magazine, the July 2007 issue - a great article on the fate of the solar system.

Answer 3

In my case some where around 20 to 30 years. Not just the Earth but the whole Universe will cease to exist. (As far as I'm concerned). Sigh. Thats if I'm lucky. Make hay while the sun shines!
Our current understanding of the life cycle of stars like the sun is that it wll enter a red giant phase which means it will expand so that the earth's orbit is inside the sun. We believe this environment will be so hostile to life that nothing will remain living on the earth. But with Global warming we could become extinct at any moment. Ban the Nukes. We need a policy of nuking anyone who tries to build nukes, for their own good. We as a species are unlikely to be around when the astronomical disaster (pun) occurs. We also are so over-taxing the resources of our small planet that we aren't likely to have to worry about 2200 A.D. let alone 10 billion years from now.

Answer 4

The Sun gets its' energy from fusing hydrogen into helium. A few billion years from now, the Sun will have used up most of it's hydrogen. When that happens complex changes will make the Sun swell to an enormous size, and start fusing helium.

It will swell so much it will come close to the Earth. It will surely melt it, maybe even surround it.

Details about the process here. There's a lot of interesting stuff, and it will likely take you a while (and more than one try) to read and understand it:

http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/space/stellardeath/stellardeath_intro.html

Answer 5

Well it depends on what you mean by "The earth will end when....?" Many peoples worlds are different things. Many peoples earths revolve around monetary gain or having ultimate knowledge or even how long you live. All these will cease to exist when you die. As far as the planet Earth itself, it will end when the sun uses up all its' fuel and expands until it very nearly reaches Earth. Mercury and Venus will be swallowed up by the expanding sphere of the Sun and all the water and atmosphere of this little blue planet will be vaporized. This is theorized to happen in as little as five or ten billion years (so start packing your stuff). By that time, humans should either be extinct or should have colonized other planets.

Answer 6

The Earth is NOT going too close OR too far from the Sun anytime soon. Least not for the next 700 or so years anyway. Hopefully by then, we will find the Earth's twin planet, populate that--and hopefully learn from living on THIS planet on NOT what to do.

How will Earth end? Well....there's that asteroid that's 23 or so years from hitting us. Hope our game plan to avoid THAT collision works.

Answer 7

there are two things really i dont know if im talking about two of the same thigns but i think that the red giant phase will occur or if not i think that there will be a supernova and the sun will explode and destroy the earth or..... the sun will turn into a black hole and suck the planets into it which is very very very very unlikely

Answer 8

depends on what scenario you are talking about and probablility of it happening.....

It is hard to provide accurate statistics on when the earth will end and how... eg. nuclear warfare, asteroid, tidal wave, earth being flung out of orbit.

It is also hard to determine an accurate date on when the sun will die out and if earth will still be inhabitable then or if earth will end before that........

All I can say then is billions of years? 2012?

Answer 9

No one really know when the physical earth will cease to exist, but the world comes to an end everyday for someone.
That's when you find out if you passed your religion exam.

Answer 10

Long after YOU'RE dead and gone...no need to worry.