Without a doubt, the world will definitely end

In about five billion years, when our sun becomes a red giant, it's going to rip all of the oceans off the planet, along with the atmosphere.

 

maybe. at least it won't happen while i'm alive... hopefully.

 

The scientists lied, it will happen in 10 years. They are keeping it a secret now so we don't panic, meanwhile they will collect all the most strongest and most intelligent people on the planet and build a rocket to colonise mars which will have quite a pleasant warm atmosphere after the sun bellows out into a red giant.

 

if humans are still alive in five billion years, they'll probably have the capacity to tow the planet to a nicer neighborhood (I heard alpha-centari is nice this time of year.)

 

You don't mean that!

 

ok well I will be sure to fly away in a spaceship with lance bass...

 

In all seriousnes...all things must come to an end ... right?

 

Reality's like that, on one hand things are incredible and miraculous such as the existence of life and sapience itself, aswell as lesser things such as the fact that we are born to a comfortable life in a developped nation. On the other hand we only have at most 130 years to spend alive and assuming we live that long half of that time will be spent with a range of physical disabilities and the sun is going to blow up.

 

Global warming is causing the suns inevitible explosion to excellerate. Blame Bush.

 

Perhaps it's about time people started caring about their planet...

 

Might as well start by caring about their neighbours.

 

"If people would just" is the easiest axiom for solving problems. Of course it's physically possible to get people to replenish the earth's precious oxygen, just not socially possible at the moment. We need to make laws as firm as property laws which ensure we are responsible toward our environment.

 

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones..."

The opening line of one of my alltime favorite books, "Unweaving The Rainbow" by Richard Dawkins. A review is here. I can't help but plug this book.

 

Though this would be nice to believe, how would Earth's climate influence the sun?

And there is always the possibility that the Earth and the sun will meet before it becomes a red giant. The Earth's orbit is decaying due to gravitational waves. I believe the loss is about 310 watts. I've done the math, but I don't remember the equations off the top of my head, and I am not sure whether the orbital decay is sufficient for the earth to plunge into the sun.

 

Orbital energy loss per unit time due to gravitational waves.

 

Hey heart you are on the right track, how bad is the decay, any better projection and do you know anything about earth aligning with the galaxy center? That is coming pretty quickly. Do you suspect that is what is pulling us or decaying the orbit as well?/

 

the orbit is decaying??? This is the first time I've heard of that... sounds scary, the idea of us all floating off in some random direction until we hit something... and hey, if this happens, won't gravity stop working too? Talk about chaos. that's a really scary thought.

 

sounds scary, the idea of us all floating off in some random direction until we hit something... and hey, if this happens, won't gravity stop working too? Talk about chaos. that's a really scary thought.

Oh, I'm pretty sure it means just the opposite- that we would eventually fall into the sun, not break free of it. At least assuming no intervening forces or major collisions and stuff.

If earth did somehow get a "gentle" (survivable) nudge from something and pushed away from the sun, unless it was a real powerhouse of a hit, I think it would just change the shape of the orbit, in an orbit that would fry us on the closer approaches, which then would be followed by a plunge into the cold distance. We would still have gravity, but the sun is the battery that powers life and keeps water- the facilitator of all life- in its liquid state. The shape of the earth's orbit greatly affects weather patterns and the critters that have adapted to those patterns, so even a minor change from a "cosmic nudge" could be devastating. Even the "wobble" of the earth has significant measurable and predictable impact on climate.

I'm trying to imagine what, if anything, would cause an apparently stable orbit to not decay. That is, for the satellite to truly remain forever, or even eventually escape.

I don't think that's possible, as there's always going to be some losses in momentum due, if nothing else, to collisions with small random particles (in the case of earth, a bit of blowoff from our atmosphere), and neither body is likely to just magically reduce its mass, and mass and distance is pretty much the whole formula if I remember right... and since true perpetual motion is seemingly impossible, wouldn't an orbit, by its very definition, necessarily mean it will decay?

Just thinking out loud after a long "day," hope I made sense.

 

if that is the case, that is no cause to be fearful. and that theory doesnt necessarily mean that the world will end, just the its inhabitants most likely will.

 

Of course the world will end.. Are you all stupid..???
Everything that has a beginning.. has an end.
reality has neither.
But earth and sun and galaxy and the observable universe DOES.

What you mean to say is will it end in your lifetime.

No

Occam