Question: Will the world end?

Asked by aammyy to Emma, Josie, Kristyn, Peter, Sarah on 28 Aug 2013. This question was also asked by vishvish.

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  1. Photo: Kristyn BatesKristyn Bates
    answered on 28 Aug 2013:

    I don’t know!

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  2. Photo: Emma StewartEmma Stewart
    answered on 28 Aug 2013:

    Probably one day….a VERY long time from now!!

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  3. Photo: Peter EnticottPeter Enticott
    answered on 28 Aug 2013:

    Yes, it will in the sense that a long, long time from now life as we know it will not be sustainable on this planet, largely due to changes in the sun as it slowly dies. The sun will develop into a red giant, stretch across a third of our visible sky, and it will get so hot that all water will evaporate and earth will be a dry, barren landscape. What an uplifting thought! I stress, a long, long time from now — and there’s actually people interested in whether we might be able to use gravity from asteroids to change the position of the earth in such an event, (e.g., get it further away from the sun) which would be incredible.

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  4. Photo: Josien de BieJosien de Bie
    answered on 28 Aug 2013:

    Eventually, but none of us will be around for it

    .. but we should eat cake just in case 🙂

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Comments

  1. Photo: jcubo03jcubo03
    commented on 28 Aug 2013:

    So would we be able to survive on a different planet? I read somewhere that the skies of Venus atmospheric pressure and temperature are the same as Earth therefore it would be the most Earth-like planet. Is this actually true?

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    • Photo: KristynKristyn
      commented on 28 Aug 2013:

      There are certainly lots of people working very hard in places like NASA to figure out ways that we could live on other planets, both within our solar system and beyond (I can hear Buzz Lightyear in my mind-to infinity and beyond!)
      The main sticking point seems to be how to get people to these other planets, the trip to Mars would take about 3-5 years and then there would be no return journey home 🙁 There have been some experiments done to determine the psychological effects of living in a confined space with a small number of people, as would be the case on a long space journey and for survival on the surface of a planet where the environment was not like Earth, with breathable air, comfortable temperature etc.
      The radiation that people are exposed to in space is also a big problem that needs to be overcome.

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  2. Photo: jcubo03jcubo03
    commented on 28 Aug 2013:

    @ Peter: Wow, that’s scary how the Earth will all dry up. How did you find out?

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    • Photo: PeterPeter
      commented on 28 Aug 2013:

      If you’re really interested in this stuff I highly recommend a book called “Death from the Skies!” by Dr. Philip Plait — he’s an American astronomer. A terrifying book!

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