KOMPAS.com – One of the space missions is to look for other habitable planets besides Earth. Scientists are aware that one day the time will come when this planet will die.
But have you ever wondered, when will that happen and how long will Earth exist?
Also read: What would happen if all the volcanoes on Earth erupted at the same time?
Planetary death
Collect Live Science, Tuesday (5/12/2023) currently the Sun is an important source of gravity and energy.
But one day, as it ages, the life cycle of the star at the center of the Solar System will eventually lead to Earth’s destruction.
So how long does Earth have before the planet is ‘swallowed’ by the Sun?
The Earth is expected to die a few billion years from now.
Earth will become uninhabitable for most organisms in about 1.3 billion to 4.5 billion years due to the natural evolution of the Sun.
Over time, the Sun will become a red giant and then swallow the Earth.
According to Ravi Kopparapu, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center red giants form in the final stages of stellar evolution.
It occurs when a star runs out of hydrogen for nuclear fusion fuel and begins to die.
Once fusion stops, gravity will take over. The helium core will begin to compress due to gravity, which will increase the temperature.
This heat spike will cause the outer plasma layer of the Sun to expand drastically.
Also read: Will oxygen on Earth run out?
“The sun will swell to at least as much as Earth’s orbit,” Kopparapu said.
Human fate
But life on the planet could end much sooner than that. Why is that?
“You don’t need to wait for the outer layers of the Sun to reach Earth. The planet will experience extreme heat long before the Sun completes its transition into a red giant,” explained Kopparapu.
As the Sun’s death process increases, the ocean temperature will evaporate, the atmosphere will eventually disappear and the Sun’s tidal gravitational force will destroy the Earth.
About 1.3 billion years from now, humans will not be able to survive physiologically on Earth due to persistent hot and humid conditions.
In about 2 billion years, the oceans may evaporate when the Sun’s luminosity is nearly 20 percent higher than it is now.
Some life may survive, but not with humans.
The dangerous temperature of the planet combined with temperature, humidity, wind speed, angle of the Sun, and cloud cover means that humans can no longer cool their bodies by sweating.
The dangerous temperature for humans was first predicted to be 35 C, but recent research shows that a temperature of 30 C can be deadly.
Also read: If humans became extinct, what would life on earth be like a year later?
However, some places on Earth have reached more than 32 C on several occasions. Climate models also predict temperatures of 35 C will become a regular occurrence in regions such as the Middle East by the end of the century.
Our greenhouse gases have threatened life on Earth before the Sun.
But long before that, human life was already threatened in the next few centuries. The cause is none other than the rate of climate change caused by humans themselves which is currently not being mitigated.
Get updates featured news and breaking news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram Group “Kompas.com News Update”, by clicking the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must install the Telegram application first on your cellphone.
2023-12-09 23:33:00
#Long #Earth #pages #Kompas.com
