To the Ends of the Earth
Created | Updated Jun 3, 2003
The earth is at risk of destruction. Below are a summary of some of the better known ways the earth could snuff it.
Comets
There are 100 billion commets in the Oort Cloud, a ring of commets around the sun, 2500 times further away than Pluto.
These can sometimes be drawn in towards the sun, creating an orbit which accelerates them to as fast as 1 million mph.
Halley's Comet is 5 miles wide by 9 miles long. This is not something which we would want to hit us.
Volcano
Volcanoes hurl up dust and smoke, obscuring the sun, causing global cooling. This is followed by a global warming effect caused by the increase in greenhouse gasses (like CO2). This will harm plants (by cutting photosynthisis) and hence everyone else in the food chain. This is apart from the horrible chemicals it would send to the atmosphere.
The dust and smoke would clear after a few years.
Global Warming
This can cause flooding, drought, bizare weather and an increase in ice cream sales.
Ice Age
Every so often the Earth goes into an ice age. This is pretty chilly.
Because snow is white, it reflects heat and light back into space, thus cooling the earth further, and creating more ice.
Some believe that if ice covers enough of the Earth, it cannot be stopped, and the whole Earth will turn into a snowball.
Neuclear War
Neuclear war, despite killing lots of people in the blast radius and killing lots more by spreading radiation, would cause a neuclear winter. This is a cooling effect, which we are unlikely to survive, as we probably wont have anything at all due to the fact it is all destroyed in the war.
Plague
A big disease could wipe out the human race. This has happened in the past, with diseases such as the Black Death. Today we still have incurable diseases: some are immune to antibiotics.
Exploding Sun
We have 5 billion years until the sun becomes a red jiant. Neuclear fusion will stop, and it will shrink and swell until eventually expanding to beyond out current orbit.
Of course, we won't be there, as the change in the size of the sun will probably send us spinning into deep space.
Black Hole
At the heart of this galaxy (yes ours) is a black hole (don't panic - it's not doing much at the moment). This (or any other one) could spell our doom, reducing our planet to a small point.
Galaxy Collision
Galaxies can collide with each other, and it's not pretty. It ususally involves star systems being flung out of the galaxy or into it's heart.
End of the Universe
At some point the universe will end. Current thinking is that it will either congeal together into a very small point, or that it will continue to expand forever, hurling us out into the deep blackness of space, where our sun (and everyone else's) will die out, leaving a dark void.
Aliens
They're building a hyperspace express route through our star system.
Alternatively, they could invade.
