The End of the World Thread!

The End of the World Thread!

Okay, because I'm bored and I visited a certain website tailored to explaining the many ways why we are all going to die :xx: I decided to make a thread about it here! Here's a few descriptions of some of the most interesting ones. Vote the one that seems most likey IYO!

Yellowstone Supervolcanoe: Infrared Satallite images of yellowstone in the 60's discovered a giant caldera covering the whole park 80x45 kilometers. The Yellowstone Supervolcanoe is thought to go off every 600,000 years by clockwork. It is now 40,000 years overdue! An eruption of this magnitude would be 2,400 times great then Mt. St Helen's, wiping out most life within 1,000 kilometers from the deadly ash, and enough lava to blanket the entire USA 5 inches thick! Here's a thought, what if some crazy terrorist acquires a MOAB or bomb of that magnitute, and decides to set it off in yellowstone? Would the shock wave be enough to wake up the volcanoe from its slumber?

Scientific Experiment gone wrong: with particle accelerators, we are creating tempuratures and conditions that existed right at the beginning of the Universe's creation. What if, by some shot, we accidently create another big bang from a particle collision? There are also other things to think about that we are also creating conditions which do not exist or come naturally in the universe. For example, we have a created a tempurature are close to zero! We pretty much created a hole new form of matter this way, and as far as we know, there's no other condition, or matter like it! With so many experiments being done and so new steps taken, how do we know that the next one might be our last?

Nuclear Warefare: All it takes is one. Before only Russia and United States had nuclear weapons, along with Britain and a few other allies. Now that list has expanded to many third world countries like Pakistan and India, which just recently were very close to an all-out nuclear exchange. What if India overreacted and invaded Pakistan in retaliation from some terrorist shooting up their parliament again? In desperation, Pakistan fires a nuke and both of them slug it out until it escalades, and soon we have radioactive clouds covering the earth, and growing an extra limb will be the least of our problems...

Asteroid Impact: 100's of asteroids pass through earth's orbit around the sun each year. Its basically a crapshoot, but with very low odds that one will impact us. But it only takes one to have devastating results on the Earth. An asteroid just one mile wide that impacts earth will be the equivilant of a few thousands nukes going off in force. If it impacts the water, the mega-tsunami will reach shorelines and kill billions of people. If the asteroid impacts land, massive dust and debree will be thrown, blanketing the atmosphere and sending the earth into another ice age...

Hypernovae: Next to supermassive black holes, the most destructive force in the Universe. A Hupernovae is basically a really friggin' large star expanding [after it runs out of hydrogen] so fast that the visual from it can be seen billions of miles away. A shock wave from a Hypernovae, if it reaches earth, will bombard the us with lethal doses of radiation; enough that the magnetosphere wont block. But that doesnt really matter though, because we'll all be incinerated from the intense heat as it burns through our atmosphere and exposes what little surivors are left to the cold, uninviting space.

Supervirus: If the aids virus could survive outside the human body for just a few seconds or a minute, its a safe bet that billions, instead of millions, would've already been dead. Many of these viruses are emerging from places where we have not explored earlier, either due to logging or new settlements. What if there's a supervirus out there thats almost like aids, but travels through the air? What if some crazy fool out there with a brain for science figures out a way to engineer the aids virus to survive outside the hosts body for short periods of time?

Others: Alien invasions? Cosmic events? Anything else you want to add to the list, and why, you name it. Personally, if I had to place my bets, it would be:

1. Nuclear warfare
2. Supervirus
3. Yellowstone Volcanoe

As my top three candidates. Yeah, I've been in a paranoia mode lately because I visted Armagaddon Online (great time-waister website!). So just for fun I decided to start a conversation here. SO for those asking: I'm not mad... completely....

 

deadly ash? I knew it would be me

 

Not to spoil this but the -480 million degrees thing in Death Option 2 is impossible by the definition. Temperature is the measurement of the mean speed of particles and the definition of absolute zero (-273.15 degree C) is the point when all particles cease to move. Going below this means particles have negative speeds (not negative velocities) or negative motion or the opposite of moving but not staying still. That kind of environment can't be comprehended by human brains of this day but maybe by thinking hard enough to try to understand that kind of situation might result in someone thinking themselves to death.

 

dont forget the superintelligent, homicidal space cows coming to exact revenge on us for killing their brethren, they will be the downfall of Man!

If I had to bet on one, I'd go with nuclear winter, since so many nations have nukes now, and I think man would probably be responsible for the destruction of Earth, since we've already got such a good start on it.

 

I'd consider the "laboratory-created accident" more a product of science fiction and media sensationalism than an actual possibility.

Considering the recent incident in 1996 or so (don't remember exactly) when the Russian early warning radars detected an incoming nuke (it was actually a low orbit satellite which looks just like a nuke on a radar), and were within two minutes of launching a retaliatory strike before they noticed their mistake.

Natural diseases are also pretty high up there, as they do periodically ravage populations, often causing huge societal changes in the process. During the early stages of European colonization, smallpox and other diseases severly ravaged Native American populations, with some estimates as high as 90-95 percent of the population being wiped out by disease (the more famous Black Death, by comparison, wiped out one-fourth to one-third of the population of Europe). It is also pretty significant because it pretty much opened North America up for European settlement (ever wonder why Europe was able to completely settle North America where it could only dominate other civilizations in Asia and Africa?)

In terms of leaving no survivors, an asteroid stand a better chance. Of course given the versatility of life to survive, it is pretty hard for any of the above possibilities to cause a complete extinction level event.

 

I think the children that you and I have will be a large contributer, Ash. I know that I'll have a hand in the end of the world somehow.

 

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/endofworld.html

 

I figured it was a matter of time until someone put up a link to that movie. Still as fun as always though

 

I think the radioactive remnants from an all-out nuclear exchange would probably stand the best chance of wiping out all life on Earth, and for some time. It'll radioactive clouds from a nuclear explosion will stay on Earth for a very long time. Besides, it doesnt help us that nuclear bombs today are massive in terms of yield power. I heard that just twenty nukes laid end to end accross the US would be enough to incinerate everything there. :xx:

I read that the total destructive radius for one high-yield nuke is 150 kilometers... Its not that godaweful movie I'm talking about, its this website that I'm talking about.

 

actually, negative temperatures *are* possible due to the way temperature is defined, and scientists have managed to approach (but never reach, of course) absolute zero temperatures from the negative side. negative temperatures are extremely hot.

 

Totally awesome site !!

[edit]

where can I read about this? sounds interesting but I don't understand what you meant kinematically (eg. what do u mean by hot or cold? extremely high energy?)

 

Really? I heard that the largest was about 20-30 miles. Of course, the most damage would be centered around 2-4 miles from the nuke.

Edit: And the "largest", is an experimental warhead much more powerful than the typical nuclear warhead in most warheads.

 

Yeah, I think its really hard to gauge accuratly how large a blast would be. I mean, if someone creates a bomb that has a radius of 100 some kilometers of affect, where the Hell would you test it at? And nevermind that massive fallout that comes from it. Many US civilians already contracted cancer from nuclear tests in the 50's and 60's. And those were relatively small compared to what is claimed today.

 

Depends on the yield. 2-4 miles is a tactical nuke, not an ICBM. The fallout would depend largely on prevailing wind patterns and the like. Of course, if they use hydrogen bombs everything, everywhere is screwed.

 

you obviously haven't dealt with my high yield nuclear cajican frogs

 

In Russia when they blew test nukes, the wind in the upper atmosphere blew all the clouds to Sweden and Norway and neighboring countries.

 

there's always the mass amounts of 'dirty bombs' which are much easier to manufacture, thus may be used more frequently

and if people can figure out how to make neutron bombs easily...

 

and photon torpedoes & ****

 

Dirty bombs are actually more of a psychological weapon than an actual damage causing weapon. Most of the deaths will be from the blast of the original bomb, and the radiation within won't be distributed anywhere as far as an actual nuke.

Of course, when people hear that a dirty bomb has gone off, they only hear the word "radiation" and then run into the streets screaming and causing havoc.

 

dirty bombs are great if you want to destroy all the gold in Fort Knox