Earth is insignificant compared to the vastness of the Universe!
I am an avid fan of CBC’s Quirks and Quarks show and last week, they had a top 10 listing of how our world will end by leading scientists.
End of the World?
It isn’t a question of IF but WHEN, whether tomorrow or 100 000 years from now, our species is a blink in the universes eye and we are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I am sure the universe is a very creative being and will use something abstract to end our civilization no matter how far away from Earth it colonizes. If you are hoping and praying for an after-life, where would it take place if there was NO UNIVERSE? Fun questions to ask yourself on a Sunday afternoon eh?
10: The Sun eats the Earth!
Our Sun uses hydrogen as it’s primary fuel source, it WILL run-out in about 7 billion years and turn into a quickly expanding “Red Giant”. Growing to over 250x its current size while losing a third of its mass in the process. The Earth’s oceans would evaporate, the surface would return to a molten form and if you are a human on this planet, no amount of air conditioning will keep you from spontaneously catching fire. Try to imagine yourself holding a nuclear bomb when it explodes and it should give you an idea of how uncomfortable this era of our Earth will be.
9: Gamma-Ray burst will microwave us!
What happens to water when you put it into a microwave? It gets how… now imagine if you where stuck in a microwave that had a wattage exponentially higher! How does this happen? Well, a star, such as our Sun, right before it explodes into a quark, releases a bursts of energy while undergoing a Super Nova. This DOES happen, has been recorded and so far, we have escaped them. Don’t worry, if you survived the first few seconds of this gamma-ray burst, our ozone layer would be destroyed and you would be fried by our Sun’s UV rays. Best to stock-up on some sunscreen and dig yourself a BIG HOLE to live in right now!
8: Rogue black hole eats Earth!
If the rogue black hole was large enough, it would completely shier the entire Earth and spit it out into its base elements. It would need to be just a few hundred kilometers in wise as well… so we aren’t talking about a HUGE black hole being necessary. Interestingly enough, the center of our galaxy is occupied by a super massive black hole!
7: Earth gets KO’ed by an asteroid
An asteroid a few kilometers in size hitting the Earth would lead to massive tidal waves, worldwide instant incineration as the seismic waves engulf our planet causing both volcanos to show-up everywhere and millions of molten asteroids caused by the initial impact zone rain down. If that wasn’t bad enough, possibly a few decades of nuclear winter along with a complete collapse of the Earth’s ecosystems would sure make the planet a lonely place unless you had Wikipedia to keep you busy!
6: Earth goes into a super massive ice-age!
Imagine that the entire Earth was covered by kilometers of ice! Scientists actually believe this happened about 750 to 650 million years ago on Earth. What can cause this? Well, our Sun greatly reducing it’s power output or CO2 levels dropping exponentially, no longer trapping any heat in our atmosphere.
5: Magnetic field collapses across our Milky Way Galaxy!
The magnetic field throughout our galaxy is all that is stopping it from imploding onto itself due to the powerful forces of gravity, remove this and our entire galaxy becomes flatter than a pancake! Don’t worry, the Super Novas caused by such a decline would fry you far before you ever felt the sky falling onto you.
4: Earth’s magnetic field reverses itself!
Cosmic radiation would be able to reach the surface of Earth and basically black-out our energy sources such as telephone wires, wireless networks and cause havoc on with any electronic equipment of any kind. The last reversal on planet Earth actually happened about 700 thousand years ago and we are 250 thousand years (so far) overdue for this to happen again as they usually occur every 500 thousand years. Time to trash your car and buy a wheelbarrow!
3: A nearby star goes Super Nova on us!
Damage from a Super Nova first causes a massive release of gamma-rays (above) followed by massive amounts of x-rays. Our ozone gets depleated in the blink of an eye (depending on distance) and voila, we get fried by our own Sun’s UV rays. To have any impact the super nova would need to be at least 25 million light years away from us. If you happen to still be alive, the genetic damage this causes would probably mean permanent infertility for all living things on our planet. The good news about this is that teenage pregnancy becomes impossible!
2: Super Volcano comes-up on Earth!
74 thousand years ago, a super volcano, about a hundred times bigger than anything we have now, exploded an incredible amount of material into our atmosphere. The result? Causing a global nuclear winter due to the ash thrown into our atmosphere with constant super-tsunamis and Richter Scale crushing earthquakes. Scientists expect one to occur in the next 10 thousand years.
1: Aliens invade us!
Let’s hope that these aliens don’t have the same mentality as us, otherwise, we are doomed.
The Bottom Line
The Earth may die tomorrow but you are alive today… appreciate it!
Buzvia: CBC’s Quirks and Quarks
