Nuclear war
Diseases
Natural Disasters
There are plenty of things on earth that could end humanity.
But what about an external threat?
Could the Universe send our planet into extinction?
Will a cataclysmic event happen in our lifetime?
Today we’ll answer those questions as we take a look 10 different scenarios that could
end life on Earth.
Asteroid
History has a way of repeating itself.
On average, Earth gets hit by an asteroid every 500,000 years.
Now, they aren’t massive asteroids, typically less than a mile in diameter.
However, large collisions have happened, on average every 20 million years.
We wouldn’t make so many movies about this topic if it didn’t scare the pants off of us
Because we are fairly sure that an asteroid took the dinosaurs out, and we can’t help
but wonder, are we next?
In 1994 scientists watched the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smash into Jupiter and cause mass chaos
on the planet, the size of Earth.
This was an eye-opening, real-time example of how devastating an asteroid colliding with
Earth could be.
Gamma Ray Bursts Imagine a burst of energy so powerful that
it produces more energy in seconds than our sun will emit in 10 BILLION years.
Let me introduce Gamma-Ray Bursts.
They are the brightest, most violent explosions in the known universe, and depending on how
far away they are, could evaporate all of existence in a matter of seconds.
The phenomenon was accidentally discovered in 1967 by the U.S. Vela Satellites, which
were actually built to detect gamma radiation by nuclear weapons tested in Space.
One way GRB’s are triggered is by the explosion of a dying, super massive star or supernova.
Scientists believe that these fleeting explosions are the birth cries of black holes.
Experts say the chances of a massive gamma ray burst taking Earth out are highly unlikely,
but they do theorize that one of our Earth’s major extinction events may have been caused
by one about 450 Million years ago!
Rogue Planet Collision
Ever see a car crash happen?
Our next celestial disaster comes from the chance of a Planet hitting Earth.
Out there wandering in space are Rogue Planets, ones that are not tethered to the orbit of
a star and arejust free-floating.
Scientists theorize that there is a potential for one of these planets to cruise into our
solar system and wreak havoc.
So where’s the nearest troublemaker?
There just happens to be one about 20 light-years away from Earth and it’s huge.
In fact, it’s slightly bigger than Jupiter and weighs nearly 12 times as much.
We won’t worry about this one yet.
EVEN IF this loner planet made its way towards us, our solar system is vast, and it definitely
has other planets to run into before hitting us.
Supernova
Surprisingly enough, not all supernovae produce gamma-ray bursts
like the ones we mentioned a bit earlier.
Yet could the death of a massive star could still spell DOOM for life on Earth?
It is mind-blowing to think of just how tiny our planet and solar system are in the grand
scheme of the universe.
Our Sun is one of about 100 BILLION stars in the Milky Way, and is by no means the largest.
So, of those 99+ BILLION other stars, how many of them could die as a Supernova and impact
us here on Earth?
The answer, probably none.
Betelgeuse, the star not the movie, is about 430 light-years away and is probably the closest
known star that may see its demise in the future.
And by that, we mean maybe in the next MILLION years.
We can take a collective sigh of relief that the likeliness of it blowing up and killing
us all is exceptionally low.
Massive Solar Storm
A little closer to home, the following two scenarios cover our own beacon of light –
Our Sun
We’ve all heard about solar flares on the news, they mess up our satellites in space,
cause radio blackouts, power outages, but also produce some lovely aurora borealis at
our Northern and Southern poles!
Could a giant solar storm manufacture enough radiation or such a large magnetic field that
it would kill off Earth?
Chances are pretty low that it would kill human or animal life.
However, there IS a chance that it could interfere with our technology to the point that it would
no longer function.
Living without your cell phone is one thing, but what would happen if the whole electronic
grid went down?
While not necessarily life-threatening, it would change life as we know it.
Death of our Sun Nothing lasts forever.
If you could know how long you’d live, right now, would you?
Scientists have pinpointed the death of our Sun.
Don’t worry – you won’t be here.
They have come to the conclusion that the sun will only last for another 7.78 BILLION
more years.
Humanity will have oodles of time to destroy itself before the sun officially goes out,
but what could we expect if anyone is around then?
Well, the Sun, as it ages, will lose temperature and get bigger.
Eventually swallowing up Mercury and Venus and send us such strong solar winds, that
our planet will slow down and send us spiraling into the expanding star, seeing Earth melt
away into endlessness.
Kinda romantic, right?
Quasi-Star So, we have covered a Supernova, which is
about 10 times the size of our sun.
We’ve also considered Hypernovas sending out gamma-ray bursts during an implosion.
Well, what about a Quasi-Star?
These gargantuan stars, powered by black holes are 7,000 – yes 7,000 TIMES BIGGER than
our sun!
This disastrous scenario would include a quasi-star entering our solar system, throwing off every
single planet from their orbit, and basically engulfing everything in its path, burning
up any chance at life.
A Quasi-star would basically vaporize the core of each planet and even devour our sun
in the process.
This is not a sneaky scenario either you would see this star coming, as they burn 100,000
times brighter than our sun.
Fortunately, this is not a likely end to our planet, at least not while we are all around!
Black Hole Another frightening yet unlikely disastrous
way for Earth to end would be if it were swallowed up by a Black Hole.
Thankfully, the closest black hole to us is about 12.5 BILLION light-years away, but it
doesn’t stop the imagination from wandering.
J2157 is the largest black hole scientists have found in the Universe and is 22 times
larger than the distance from the Sun to Neptune.
YIKES!
It eats our sun for breakfast – not, literally, but it can consume matter the size of our
sun that frequently!
A black hole would rip our sun to shreds and end all life on Earth incredibly quickly.
Let’s all take a moment to be grateful that this situation is probably never going to
happen.
Distorted Gravity What happens when two black holes collide?
Welcome to the nightmare of distorted gravity!
Since we can’t SEE gravity, it may be difficult to imagine a tsunami of gravitational waves
but depending on your grasp of Einstein’s theory of relativity, you may understand the
impact.
In the simplest terms, a disruption to gravity could basically squish the planet out of existence.
The pressure alone could set off a series of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that
would be enough to destroy the planet.
This isn’t even taking into consideration the whole shape of the planet would change,
orbits would change, and life itself would be gone.
The upside here is that we are not even close enough to one black hole, let alone two that
may impact each other.
Gravitational waves travel at the same speed as light, so by the time distorted gravitational
waves get here, they are not likely to impact Earth, let alone anything in our solar system.
Deep breaths…
The Big Rip?
Last, but certainly not least, is the concept of the Big Rip.
What started as a Big Bang, ends with the destruction of the entire Universe as we know
it.
To catch you up, dark matter is what helps the Universe continue to expand.
The Big Rip theorizes that in 22 BILLION years, at current acceleration rates, this dark matter
would change into a phantom matter, and reverse all that has been created, over about another
BILLION years.
There would be nothing left of the Universe but a void.
Fret not friends, the sun will die well before this happens, so while this is incredibly
mind-bending, it’s extremely unlikely in any human’s lifetime!
That’s a wrap for this video!
If you enjoyed it, let us know by hitting the like button down below and subscribe to
our channel for more videos like this!