Nibiru. Planet H. Apocalypse of the Mayan calendar. Split. The New Great Deluge. Uncontrollable flame. Biblical prophecy. Super Volcano. A stray asteroid or comet. Every few years (or even a few months, depending on which part of the Internet you are accustomed to inhabiting) a new story, rumors or conspiracy theory go crazy, proclaiming the end of the world. Some statements are very specific; others are more blurred. But we do not live in a world in which myth and mysticism prevail over common sense; we know that we can separate the seeds of truth from the chaff of myths, using the predictive power of science. And as far as we know, there are four scenarios of the real end of the world, that is, the Earth, and all of them will happen one day, do not go to the grandmother. Ethan Siegel from Medium.com believes that this is an ultimatum end.
The biggest explosion that ever happened on Earth. Nuclear war and subsequent damage to the environment is one of the possible ends of mankind
The extinction of mankind
This is not just a prophecy – it’s inevitable. Despite the fact that today we have more than seven billion people and this number is constantly growing, in the current form people live less than a million years, and all the higher primates lived only a few million years. Evolution can seem sluggishly current for our species, judged within the framework of one human life, but for millions of years it becomes inevitable. The earth changes, and the pressure on different species also changes, random genetic mutations occur. Some mutations are useful for the survival of a species under conditions of external pressure, and they are most likely to be passed along with genes to future generations.
Speaking from the standpoint of evolution, human beings – or homo sapiens – existed only for a short time: less than half a million years. And as far as we know the path of evolution, in a few million years people on the planet will not
What part of the generation of future people will retain these genes – it does not matter; Even if in millions of years the descendants of modern people will still walk on the ground, they will no longer be people. People themselves face the pressure of a changing planet with limited resources, other people (in the form of a nuclear, chemical or biological environment) and nature (in the form of diseases). Whether it is due to a catastrophe, the fall of an asteroid, whether or not it happens, the end of humanity is inevitable. We will simply die out in this world, and it does not matter whether our offspring survive or not. On geological and astronomical scales, this will happen sooner rather than later, and will be the first “end of the world” for us.
Today, on Earth, water in the oceans, as a rule, boils when it includes lava or some other superheated material. But in the distant future, the energy of the Sun will be enough to boil water on a global scale
Boiling of the terrestrial oceans
We were seriously lucky that we were on a planet of just such dimensions and masses, with such an atmosphere and at the same distance from the star as they turned out to be. Only the necessary combination of all these parameters allowed the planet to form with life and an abundance of liquid water on the surface. For billions of years the Earth was a world covered with the ocean, with a simple and complex life that lived in this ocean and only recently got out on land. However, thanks to the future evolution of our Sun, our oceans are not destined to be here forever. When helium accumulates in the core of the Sun, the region in which thermonuclear fusion proceeds will expand, with all the consequences for us.
This section demonstrates the various regions of the surface and interior of our Sun, including the nucleus where nuclear fusion takes place. Time goes by and one day the helium-burning core region will expand, and at the same time the energy output of the sun
Over time, the sun will warm up and expand, become brighter and will radiate more energy. After one or two billion years, no more, the amount of energy released by the sun will increase to a certain critical point: high enough that the amount of energy that enters the water molecule in the ocean of the Earth during the day, it boils. Our planet will become more like Venus than Earth, and become completely unfit for life on the surface. However, the simplest organisms will certainly be able to get on top of the clouds, but the life we know will finally come to an end. A cosmic experiment to grow complex organisms will come to its natural conclusion.
Approximately five to seven billion years in the core of the Sun will be exhausted by hydrogen. The inner part of the light will be shortened, heated and will begin to synthesize helium. And then the Sun will expand, evaporate the earth’s atmosphere and fry the surface of the planet
Depletion to Badlands
Thought boiling oceans – is it bad? What about the prospect that every atom of the atmosphere will be thrown out of our world? Anyone ever living on the surface will turn to ashes? Traces left by living beings will turn into dust? If there is enough heat and energy, this can be done with any world, and Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is a vivid example. It will be another five to seven billion years – and the same fate will befall the Earth, when the Sun will run out of hydrogen fuel. And then the nucleus will shrink, heat up and begin to synthesize helium, emitting more energy. In this state, the Sun will turn into a red giant burning helium, and nothing on Earth can resist it.
When the Sun becomes a true red giant, the Earth itself will not be swallowed or absorbed, it will be roasted
The sun will increase hundreds of times in comparison with its current diameter and will become thousands of times brighter than today. The earth will be almost completely shaved, and also pushed away from the Sun; Mercury and Venus will be completely absorbed. Later, the Sun will die, decrease to a white dwarf, and the Earth will remain a roasted remainder floating in space in its orbit around the corpse of the star.
Even single gravitational interactions with large transmitted masses can lead to disruption of the orbit and the ejection of a large body from the solar and planetary system
Swallowed or thrown away?
Purified from life, cooked and then charred and drained, sterilized by quadrillions of cosmic rays, our planet will continue to exist. It will remain untouched, wandering around the corpse of our star, until one of the following events occurs:
Any object will collide with the Earth, destroying or absorbing it, depending on the size and speed of the collision. Our galaxy is a fairly large place, but collisions occur regularly throughout the universe.
A massive object will pass near the Earth, throw it out of the solar system and the galaxy, after which it will wander alone in the emptiness of outer space for ages.
Or she remains tied to the corpse of the Sun and slowly, very slowly, will spiral down to her stellar corpse, where she will then be absorbed in a black dwarf.
After the Sun becomes a black dwarf, if nothing is thrown out and collides with the remains of the Earth, gravity will push the planet out with the former luminary
And then the world will surely end. All these four scenarios are not just chatter, they are 100% predictions for the future of our planet, backed up by our best scientific achievements. The distant future of the Earth is known; The nearest future we will have to create on our own. Create a future, firmly entrenched in scientific reality, using the best knowledge and the most successful theories to ensure the safety, freedom and prosperity of mankind – this is the ultimate dream of a scientifically educated society. It remains to be hoped that we will be able to postpone the “end” of the world as far as possible into the future.
