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ZZ Ways to Destroy Earth
Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.
You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth.
You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting
down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution
into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.
Fools.
The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne
ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than
you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily.
Editor's
Note: This
presentation was first published by Sam Hughes on his
own web site. Hughes' version is a living document that he updates
as new information becomes available. This adapted version on LiveScience
is presented with permission. We encourage you to check out Hughes' site
for the latest on this topic, as well as additional methods he puts on
a "less scientifically probable" list, plus a list of natural ways that
the Earth might cease to exist. He also provides source information, reader
comments, and links to related material.
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So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do not
think this will be easy.
Mission statement
By any means necessary, to render the Earth into a form in which it may no
longer be considered a planet. Such forms include, but are most definitely not
limited to: two or more planets; any number of smaller asteroids; a quantum
singularity; a dust cloud.
To make the
list, a method must actually work. That is, according to current scientific
understanding, it must be possible for the Earth to actually be destroyed by
this method, however improbable or impractical it may be.
Methods are ranked in order of feasibility, with the least likely listed first
and the most likely being No. 10.
Current Earth-destruction Status
- Number of times the Earth has been destroyed: 0
- Number of plans currently in progress with the final aim of bringing about
the Earth's destruction: 0
- Number of scientific experiments currently underway with the potential to
bring about the Earth's destruction: 0
- Minimum amount of time until the Earth is destroyed by natural means (discounting
total existence failure): 25 years
- Minimum amount of time until the Earth is destroyed by artificial means:
50 years
What this guide is not
This is not a guide for those whose aim is merely to wipe out humanity. I can
in no way guarantee the complete extinction of the human race via any of these
methods, real or imaginary. Humanity is wily and resourceful, and many of the
methods outlined inside will take many years to even become available, let alone
implement, by which time mankind may well have spread to other planets; indeed,
other star systems.
If total human genocide is your ultimate goal, you are reading the wrong document.
There are far more efficient ways of doing this, many which are available and
feasible right now. Nor is this a guide for those wanting to annihilate everything
from single-celled life upwards, render Earth uninhabitable or simply conquer
it. These are trivial goals in comparison.
This is a guide for those who do not want the Earth to be there anymore.
The
List: Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth
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