Mars- Earths Fate?

[gavino]

I was thinking in bed oneday about Earths core. Most people know that the Earths core is slowly cooling off and some day it will cool off all the way and are feild that keeps the solor wind away from Earth will go away. When the Feild is no longer there the solar wind from the sun will blow away most of the atmophere and there gose are heat and water and major life forms. This sounds alot like Mars to me. So far we see no volcanic ativity wich means that Mars my not have a hot core but a cold hard one. Becuse mars is smailer than Earth it makes since that Mars core would cool down faster. So in a since Mars could be Earths fate... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><span style="font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">gavinovz</span></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[najab]

This is a possibility. I think I remember reading though that the Sun will expand and boil the oceans away long before the Earth's core freezes.

 

[najab]

This is a possibility. I think I remember reading though that the Sun will expand and boil the oceans away long before the Earth's core coolds down.

 

[mooware]

...and this is a LONG way off in the future. Long after we're all gone.

 

[lewcos]

I find it hard to comprehend someone NOT living in my house sometime in the future, forget about imagining nobody living on this planet.<br /><br />It's a creepy thought and I am glad we live now and we are not of the generation that will be faced with leaving the planet once and for all. <br /><br />Imagine the last guy who has his foot on the planet before he steps into his spacecraft. What will he/she/it look like? Genetically altered? (most likely) <br /><br />This person will go down in history as the last person to step on earth. Future generations will only hear stories of a once vibrant and beautiful planet called Earth.

 

[dragon04]

Maybe I'm wrong (and someone please point it out if I am), but I don't think the temperature of the earth's core affects the strength of its magnetic field.<br /><br />It DOES however affect in part the temperature of the planet (internal heating, greenhouse gases injected into the atmosphere, etc).<br /><br />Remember that Earth has significantly more mass than Mars and a relatively strong magnetic field. Making it easier to hold onto an atmosphere.<br /><br />And I wonder. Even if the Earth's core was at a temperature low enough to touch it, with the abundance of carbon we have on the planet, I would assume we could manufacture sufficient quantities of CO2 to keep earth nice and toasty warm.<br /><br />I don't think we will suffer Mars' fate. It will be either the Sun, a giant impactor or Man himself that causes our demise. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[dragon04]

Of course, assuming that Mankind survives and evolves for the next 100 million years, I would speculate that they would have the technological prowess to continually alter the Earth's orbit outward to remain in a habitable zone as the Sun grows lager and becomes more luminous.<br /><br />The sun's surface temperature will actually decrease. But due to its expanding size, it will produce more heat due sheerly to its expaniding surface area.<br /><br />And in that event, I would guess that even if the earth's core cooled to 21C, one could imagine keeping the Earth's surface warm by both producing greenhouse gases and/or increasing the planet's biomass.<br /><br />In fact, if the Earth were sufficiently populated, had enough livestock/wild animals, had a lowered albedo and produced enough energy to sustain and power a sufficiently large population, heat dissipation might be a much larger issue than heat retention. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[dragon04]

Good point. The Earth's rotational period is slowing down over time. So even with a molten outer core and a solid inner core (assuming that your field generation model is correct), Earth's magnetic field will steadily decrease.<br /><br />At that point, I guess the question would be whether or not Earth's gravity and minimal magnetosphere would be enough to retain a viable atmosphere.<br /><br />And if not, how much gas would we need to produce to maintain 1 atmosphere of pressure.<br /><br />The earth's slowing rotational rate presents problems of its own to maintaining a viable biosphere as well.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[lewcos]

"I would speculate that they would have the technological prowess to continually alter the Earth's orbit outward to remain in an inhabitable zone as the Sun grows lager and becomes more luminous. "<br /><br />The earth will die - just as everything dies. <br /><br />Even if we can keep the earth on life support, the galaxy will eventually die.

 

[najab]

>Even if we can keep the earth on life support, the galaxy will eventually die.<<br /><br />Go on, finish the depressing thought....over billions of years, the galaxies will get so far apart that the night sky will be totally black, and eventually, even the protons will decay and the universe turn cold and dark. And it will all end, not with a bang, but with a cold, silent whimper.

 

[lewcos]

"Go on, finish the depressing thought....over billions of years, the galaxies will get so far apart that the night sky will be totally black, and eventually, even the protons will decay and the universe turn cold and dark"<br /><br />Isn't it weird how we get depressed about something that will not affect us or our great grandchildren or our great grandchildrens great great great great great great grandchildren?<br /><br />Perhaps it's because we need to feel that the things we do today are for the greater good of the universe and if the universe is eventually going away, why bother.<br />

 

[votefornimitz]

I'd say the veninizing (Venus) of Earth is more likely due to the greenhouse effect. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <span style="color:#993366">In the event of a full scale nuclear war or NEO impact event, there are two categories of underground shelters available to the public, distinguished by depth underground: bunkers and graves...</span> </div>

 

[dragon04]

"Even if we can keep the earth on life support, the galaxy will eventually die."<br /><br />And I might add this. If you invest in metals, don't invest in lead. There's gonna be a glut in 30 or 40 billion years. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[chew_on_this]

Maybe I missed something, the Earth holds onto its' atmosphere due to its' strong emf field, but Venus has but a weak emf? How does Venus keep it's stiflingly thick atmosphere? I find it hard to believe volcanic activity could replenish it. Besides, from what I recall, Venus has short, violent resurfacing events. Guess I should google it up.

 

[spacefire]

<font color="yellow">Go on, finish the depressing thought....over billions of years, the galaxies will get so far apart that the night sky will be totally black, and eventually, even the protons will decay and the universe turn cold and dark. And it will all end, not with a bang, but with a cold, silent whimper.</font><br />actually it makes more sense that the particles will come back together in one crunch (yes I believe in the 'big crunch theory') where time will cease to exist and then-surprise surprise- the extreme pressure will generate one big BANG- and the universe will be born again. since these events will include the ENTIRE universe, the new universe will follow EXACTLY the same sequence of events as the previous one, which means Earth-and us eventually wil be born again and again and agai and again and agaig and again... so it's all good <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> don't be sad litttle one. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[lunatio_gordin]

Of course, we could also end up going the way of venus if Global warming gets too out of hand. And that would happen a lot sooner.

 

[majornature]

It is possible that Earth's core will suddenly cool off, but there other possiblities that can end life on Earth like Earth and Mars colliding into each other, cosmic explosion from two colliding galaxies, and the Sun swallowing Earth and other planets whole as it dies. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>