# You might want to put your affairs in order



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

* The end of the world is nigh *

In its 4.5 billion years, Earth has evolved from its hot, violent birth to the celebrated watery blue planet that stands out in pictures from space. But in a new book, two noted University of Washington astrobiologists say the planet already has begun the long process of devolving into a burned-out cinder, eventually to be swallowed by the sun.
By their reckoning, Earth's "day in the sun" has reached 4:30 a.m., corresponding to its 4.5 billion-year age. By 5 a.m., the 1 billion-year reign of animals and plants will come to an end. At 8 a.m. the oceans will vaporize. At noon - after 12 billion years - the ever-expanding sun, transformed into a red giant, will engulf the planet, melting away any evidence it ever existed and sending molecules and atoms that once were Earth floating off into space.

"The disappearance of our planet is still 7.5 billion years away, but people really should consider the fate of our world and have a realistic understanding of where we are going," said UW astrophysicist Donald Brownlee. "We live in a fabulous place at a fabulous time. It's a healthy thing for people to realize what a treasure this is in space and time, and fully appreciate and protect their environment as much as possible."

In "The Life and Death of Planet Earth," Brownlee and UW paleontologist Peter Ward use current scientific understanding of planets and stars, as well as the parameters of life, to provide a glimpse of the second half of life on Earth and what comes after.

The book, a sort of biography of our planet, is being published today by Times Books, a division of Henry Holt and Co. It is a sequel to Ward and Brownlee's best-selling and much-discussed book "Rare Earth," in which they put forth the hypothesis that simple life is relatively common in the universe but complex, Earth-like life is exceedingly rare.

"The Life and Death of Planet Earth" explains how the myriad life on Earth today was preceded by a long period of microbial dominance, and the authors contend that complex life eventually will disappear and be succeeded again by a period of only microbial life. They say that higher life will be removed much as it came into being, ecosystem by ecosystem. Aspects of the planet's past, such as numbingly cold ice ages, will be relived in the period of devolution.

"If we do begin to slide into the next glacial cycle, there probably are grand, planetary-scale engineering projects that might stop or lessen the effects," Ward said.

"The big unknowns are whether we can afford to do such projects and would we really know what to do. If the planet was cooling, we could, in principle, begin painting the surface black to collect more heat. Could we afford it? And what would be the many possible ramifications of a planet suddenly covered in black paint? Any planetary remediation project would always run the risk of making things worse."

Eventually, though, scorching heat will drive land creatures to the sea for respite. Those that can adapt will survive for a time, but eventually the oceans will warm too much for the complex life forms to continue.

"The last life may look much like the first life - a single-celled bacterium, survivor and descendant of all that came before," the authors write. Finally, even the surviving microbes "will be seared out of existence."

The prospects of humans surviving by moving to some other habitable planet or moon aren't good, Brownlee and Ward contend, because even if such a place were found, getting there would be a huge obstacle. Various probes sent into space could survive Earth's demise, and just a few grams of material could arguably carry a DNA sample from every human, they say, but it's not likely the human species itself will survive. Long before the planet's final end, life will become quite challenging, and finally impossible, for humans.

As the sun gets hotter and grows in size, it will envelop Mercury and Venus. It is possible it will stop just short of Earth, the authors say, but the conditions still would make this a most-inhospitable planet. More likely, though, the sun will consume Earth as well, severing all the chemical bonds between molecules and sending its individual atoms out into space, perhaps eventually to form new planets. That would leave Mars as the nearest planet to the sun, and on Mars the fading sun's glow would be like that of Earth's moon.

That end is still some 7.5 billion years distant, but by then Earth will have faced a variety of "ends" along the way, the authors say. The last dinosaur perished long ago. Still to come are the last elephant, the last tree, the last flower, the last glacier, the last snowflake, the last ocean, the last life.

"The Life and Death of Planet Earth" is like its predecessor, "Rare Earth," in that the authors collected and distilled some of the latest scientific ideas about the Earth's place in the universe, Brownlee said. He hopes the new book, like "Rare Earth," will spark widespread discussion, and give people a fundamental and realistic view of the past and future of their planet.

"It's a healthy thing to think of the place of Earth among the other planets, and its place in the sun. The sun gave life and ultimately it will bring death." 

Kev.


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Whats that got to do with MH chit chat :?: is it in the wrong forum :wink:


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I thought chit chat covered any subject IE Chit Chat.

Kev


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Well that sums up global warming for me Kev Thanks.

I will now merrily race me bikes as often as I wish, knowing its not my fault

Cheers
Dave p


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> I thought chit chat covered any subject IE Chit Chat.
> 
> Kev


I thought that anything not related to motorhoming went in off topic :wink: whereas this was for chit chat about motorhoming 8O


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## phil-hazel (Apr 3, 2009)

*doom and gloom*

This is the trouble when someone picks up a book and reads something they never knew! They think that the rest of the world is blind to it as well.

This is about a couple of old duffers earning a few bob by writing a book about the end of the world in a squillion years time!

However unless one of them rebuilds motor homes when he's not banging on about amargedon, does anyone seriously give a toss! In 4.5 million years time its extremely unlikely the human race will be around.

Hopefully, most of us would have left by then in our personal space homes!


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## aldhp21 (Aug 4, 2008)

Briarose said:


> Whats that got to do with MH chit chat :?: is it in the wrong forum :wink:


It could affect decisions on solar panels


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

aldhp21 said:


> It could affect decisions on solar panels


Yeah! I could have got away with a smaller unit :evil:

Gerald


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> I thought chit chat covered any subject IE Chit Chat.
> 
> Kev


Hi Kev

Sometimes the edges do get blurred but as a rough rule of thumb Motorhome Chit Chat is for motorhome related topics which don't belong in the main motorhome related named forums.

Off Topic on the other hand can cover a wide range of non-motorhome related items and can contain almost anything.

On that basis I've just moved this thread to Off Topic.


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

Once again, Gordon Browns' name springs out as a likely cause of this problem.


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## eddied (May 9, 2005)

Don't think so Pusser. Italian TV news put it squarely on Berlusconi's shoulders!
saluti,
eddied


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## Daedalas (Nov 12, 2009)

Good Afternoon Ken 'n all

1982-ish NASA saw with a posh new satellite something with a mass roughly 4-8 times earth about 50 billion miles away but heading our way fast reported in NYT. An update in 1993 ish again published said it was closing rapidly at 70 deg to our orbital plane and likely a double brown sun size about the same estimate. 

Since then all news on Planet X has been sort of removed and poo poo'd. But it is very interesting to read the stuff that is getting out on the Internet. Just google Planet X

So maybe the Mayans were right all along: the current sun does end on 23 Dec 2012. Maybe the Egytian civilsation that historians would have us believe appeared in an historical blink of an eye c 4000 BC amongst theretofore 'primitive' folk and who immediately set about building the wonders of the ancient world such as pyramids et al using maths and techniques they scratched on the backs of their goats. Or maybe we lost a civilisation ... Atlantis maybe ... when planet X went by last time and the Egyptians somehow got some of their knowledge. Not new and not mine but interesting thoughts and maybe we should be thinking 'arks' not MH. I think the flyby period is about right!



"Ladies and Gentlemen ... Please Fasten you seat belts we are entering some clear air turbulence"


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

autostratus said:


> Kev_n_Liz said:
> 
> 
> > I thought chit chat covered any subject IE Chit Chat.
> ...


In that case is it not time we had another off topic type forum, (general chit chat maybe) which doesn't die just because no one has posted on it for 30 days, which IMHO, is about as stupid an idea I've ever come across, and why we do get posts in the wrong place sometimes.

Just because something is not on topic does not mean it is not of interest to others, and doesn't contain information or interest which might be later searched for.

Many is the time when I have read something on the off topic forum, and tried in vain to find it when it was of more use.

Kev.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

but Kev this one ain't going to be much use for a few billion years.

So we need something between 30 days and a few billion years.


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi Kev

We do have another forum that is intended for interesting snippets of info and it does not autodelete so the posts will be there to find at a later date even if they get no replies.

Jokes and Trivia

I have just moved the one below into there,

How about this for a fancy timepiece <<

Mike


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

sallytrafic said:


> but Kev this one ain't going to be much use for a few billion years.
> 
> So we need something between 30 days and a few billion years.


Frank, behave, stop hanging around being a pendant, :lol: :lol:

Kev


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

spykal said:


> Hi Kev
> 
> We do have another forum that is intended for interesting snippets of info and it does not autodelete so the posts will be there to find at a later date even if they get no replies.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mike, would you do likewise for this one please.

Kev.


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

Hi Kev

Done :wink:


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