Is It the End of the World?
Published by Steven Hawking threw an end of world party on the day of the Large Hadron Collider switch on. But should we be worried? The short answer is no. Steven Hawking was joking when he said that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) would cause the end of the world. The sad fact is though, even though the LHC is safe, there are plenty of things which could cause the end of the world. Here are a few of them.
Asteroid Impact
Image Credit: Don Davis/NASA
There are millions of objects in space. Most of them are in the Oort Cloud, and despite our best efforts we have been unable to sufficiently catalog them all due to the fact that they are all so far away from the sun, and reflect little light. This makes them practically invisible. Any one of these objects is a candidate, since it is possible that gravitational interactions between the planets may throw some of these objects out of their orbit, pulling them towards the inner solar system. The Tunguska event which occurred in 1908 was a notable recent impact.
A global pandemic
A global pandemic may one day be the cause of doomsday. As more and more of us live in large cities, all packed close together, working close together, we become particularly susceptible to disease. Though it is thought that due to individual differences there will always be about 10 percent of any population who are immune to the diseases.
A geological event
Credit: National Park Service
The eruption of a super volcano would be particularly devastating. The last super volcano event is known as the Toba Eruption and it occurred in Indonesia some time roughly about 69,500 B.C. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, human populations were reduced to a few tens of thousands of individuals by the event. Yellowstone Caldera is just such a super volcano that may go off at any point. If it does the human race is in for a stormy ride.
Energy
Depletion of oil and other natural resources will present a catastrophe for the human race. If we explore other forms of energy then this catastrophe will be diverted, but if we don’t then who knows what could happen? It is possible that when we run out of fuel and resources we fall back into the dark ages or the stone ages. While many believe it to be unlikely it cannot be ruled out, and will continue to be good material for science fiction at least.
A gamma ray burst
Credit: NASA/JPL
The majority of observed gamma ray bursts appear to be collimated emissions set off by the collapse of the core of a rapidly rotating, extremely large star into a black hole. A nearby gamma ray burst would be extremely deadly to humanity and could not only strip the atmosphere from the planet, but would also damage DNA so that life was no longer possible. An deadly source is a hypernova, a hypothetical occurrence of a burst produced when a hypergiant star explodes then collapses, and causes vast amounts of radiation to spread across hundreds of light years of space.
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On September 25, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Very interesting observations, research, fiction whatever the case may be but you have to understand the concept of God. The Bible tells how Armageddeon will take place. The earth will not be destroyed but will be able to support life and mankind once wickedness (wicked ones included) is removed from the earth. How is this the case when there is no earth, atmosphere to support life etc???? The earth will again be brought back to a paradise as it was before the sin of Adam and Eve and mankind will once again be perfect in every way. Its promised to us in every Bible, not just one. Maybe you should read into it more carefully. Very good article though.
On September 29, 2008 at 4:49 am
Great Article.
On October 7, 2008 at 12:41 am
I have a tough time buying into the man in the sky theory usually referred to as God, but then again…none of us have ever really seen what death really is from the eyes of a dead man.
On October 18, 2008 at 8:17 am
It’s really amazing to think how the earth end but we’ve gota prepare ourselves for continuation of human being. For certain little things everybody must keep maintaining our earth. Let’s also keep creating any idea sothat these teory will be proved by the time or generations.
On October 18, 2008 at 8:23 am
wow…
impressive…
will there any alien that attacking the earth at the end??
if there is…
will there any war between aliens and humans??
i’m curious about this…
so please answer my question
thx b4
On October 20, 2008 at 9:30 am
wow this is the best article/story i’ve read sence the lion king
On January 1, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Interesting article–actually fascinating. I’m a huge History Channel fan and they have this show that I’m sure you are familiar with called the “Universe” and this article has that feel. Excellent read.
On March 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm
S. Walker.
I think you are the one that needs to understand that the Bible is fiction. No one being could keep tabs on a universe that is 13 billion light years wide and containing trillions of other celestial bodies.
On May 23, 2009 at 4:49 pm
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On April 12, 2010 at 2:47 am
What a poorly written article. This goes beyond “glossing over” the ideas which were somewhat presented. Of course, if the writer is actually 10 years old then that changes everything. In that case I’ll say “good job champ!”