Chapter 202: Earth Crisis
Many scientists believe that under the general trend of the universe, the end of the earth will eventually come, and the end of mankind is only a matter of time. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Hara had also thought about the various ways in which the earth could be destroyed, and speculated about the crisis facing the earth.
An asteroid hitting the Earth could destroy the Earth.
In fact, it is almost inevitable that an asteroid will hit Earth, but it is not known when the asteroid with great threat will arrive.
At present, we have found more than 1,500 asteroids in the universe that can threaten the safety of the Earth.
In 1908, an asteroid with a diameter of 120 feet (about 36 meters) exploded over Tunguska, Russia, releasing 1,000 times more energy than the atomic bomb that bombed Hiroshima. Thankfully, no one died in the attack.
Scientists say similar events occur about once every 1,000 years. The chance of a large asteroid hitting the Earth and causing a mass extinction is 1 in every 100 million years. 66 million years ago, the catastrophe that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs may have been caused by an asteroid hitting the Earth.
However, Yuan Haochen judged that the crisis facing the earth this time would not be an asteroid hitting the earth, because, unless it is an asteroid that is huge enough to a certain order of magnitude, it is not helpless with the current capabilities of the earth's civilization.
Moreover, if such a huge asteroid really happened to Earth, it should have been discovered by most people long ago, and the precise time of the impact should have been calculated.
In addition to this, Hara also considered the possibility of a large-scale solar storm leading to the extinction of humanity.
Solar storms trigger flares, sunspots, coronal matter emitted or any matter on the Sun, or energy from the Earth's magnetic field, similar to man-made electromagnetic pulse weapons. When solar energy particles crash into the Earth with a force that can ionize the atmosphere, a huge cloud of high-energy electron mushrooms is created and bounces around the atmosphere, even if the heat generated by this phenomenon is not too much, but the violent electromagnetic pulse (EMP) will mean that all scientific and technological equipment on Earth will be destroyed. All electronics will fail, and there is nothing that can stop it.
One might think that society could go on as usual for a long time without any electronic devices.
However, the reality is much more cruel, because the earth's agricultural production will collapse as a result, and widespread famine will starve many people to death and eventually destroy humanity.
However, this will not be a huge crisis for the earth, because Yuan Haochen found through observation that the sun above his head is still so warm and mild, and there is no indication that it wants to poison the earth and human beings.
Hara had also considered the threat of an alien attack, a massive plague, and a food crop lesion, but these were ruled out as inconsistent with the potential danger clues he had so far learned.
Indeed, there are many other reasons that could lead to the destruction of the planet.
However, the only ones that can destroy all life on Earth in an instant without warning are supernova explosions and cosmic gamma-ray explosions.
The internal temperature of massive stars is much higher than the surface, and the core temperature of the largest supergiant stars exceeds 1 billion trillions. For a stable star, the theoretical upper limit of the core temperature is 6 billion K. Above this temperature, the photon energy emitted by the star's internal matter will be so high that it can be converted into positive and negative electron pairs when it collides with each other, and this reaction will destabilize the star and eventually destroy it in a huge supernova explosion.
The interior of the star mainly relies on the energy generated by nuclear fusion to fight the gravitational pull of the star itself to maintain stability: the outward expansion force formed by the release of energy is counterbalanced by the gravitational pull of the star. As mass accumulates in the inner core of the star, the gravitational pull increases, and the raw material for nuclear fusion becomes scarce, and when the force provided between the energy of nuclear fusion and the free electrons cannot resist the gravitational pull, the star will suddenly collapse, reaching a speed of more than 45,000 miles per second, and the temperature of the core will rise rapidly. Under the action of gravity, the gas smashes into the core at nearly the speed of light, and this process will have a "rebound effect", and the incoming part of the gas spins upwards and blows out of the core. The extrusion of electrons and protons in the inner core produces neutrinos, which are partially absorbed when they pass through the dense gas, and the gas gains huge energy, resulting in a huge explosion, producing X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet rays, ......
If there were a supernova explosion that was so close to us, it would be able to wipe out humanity without even using a gamma ray blast.
Gamma-ray bursts are known to be the most violent explosions in the universe, theoretically created by the collapse and explosion of a huge star when it runs out of fuel, or by the merger of two adjacent compact stars (black holes or neutron stars). Gamma-ray bursts can be as short as thousandths of a second or as long as hours, releasing enormous amounts of energy in a short period of time. If compared to the Sun, it releases energy in a matter of minutes equivalent to trillions of years of sunlight, and the energy of a single photon it emits is often hundreds of thousands of times that of typical sunlight.
A strong beam of gamma radiation, if it is very close to the Earth, and the direction is exactly towards the Earth, the strong beam travels at the speed of light, we cannot defend against it at all, it will destroy all life in an instant, everyone will be turned into a pile of bones, and finally the earth will be empty.
Gamma ray bursts are especially common in the universe!
Why is it so difficult to find intelligent life in the surrounding galaxies, perhaps they have already been wiped out by gamma-ray blasts?
At this time, in the conference room in the core area of the Pacific base of the Interstellar Exploration Alliance.
Yuan Haochen was silent, and the commander-in-chief's expression was still very heavy.
"Yes, most of the extraterrestrial life in the universe may have been swept away by gamma rays, and maybe the earth civilization will have such a day." The commander-in-chief's face was full of self-deprecation.
"There is indeed a huge star WR104 about 8,000 light-years away from Earth, and a supernova explosion could occur at any moment. I've observed that star WR104 is like a rotating firework, and it's facing the Earth, which is in the path of the gamma-ray burst, and a lot of gamma rays from the explosion do reach the Earth. Yuan continued to ask with confusion, "However, this star has been discovered as early as the last century, and scientists predict that it may erupt at any time in the next 500,000 years, but there has been controversy about when it will erupt and whether it will threaten the earth." Could it be that it makes the earth's civilization like a great enemy? ”
"In fact, scientists have observed its existence as early as the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the last century, and if it remains in its original state, the star WR104 will indeed not threaten the Earth in the near future." The commander-in-chief explained to Yuan Haochen with a sinking face.
"In fact, the black hand behind it is an even more distant supernova, which was observed by Soviet scientists in the late 60s of the last century." The Commander-in-Chief continued with a serious face, "The Alliance's crisis science team has credible evidence that the energy generated by this supernova explosion has indeed reached and greatly disturbed the star WR104, which has now become a giant cosmic bomb that can explode at any moment. (To be continued.) )