How would you go about destroying the Earth? - Page 2

Oerdin · February 22, 2003, 03:09

Quote:

Originally posted by monkspider
I would put several hundred pounds of TNT in the Moon's core so that it will collide into the Earth, knocking it into the Sun.

Actually the earth is a very resilient body and it survived the last big impact like that. The earth was originially formed 4.66 billion years ago (BYA) and some where between 4.4 to 4.3 BYA a Mars sized object colided with the earth causing the planet to remelt and forming the moon out of the debre field. This event also caused the earth to have a slight off axis tilt which is why we have seasons now.

We know the Earth had already solidified because the moon has the exact same composition as the earth's crust and is missing the heavier elements which are found in the earth mantel and core. We know the Earth remelted because the material from the Mars sized body "Mixed" with the existing Earth material and the only way you can do that is for the whole planet to melt. Lastly if you factor in the most likely angles the planetoid body would have come at the Earth (basically that would be either the plane the planets rotate in or a few degrees off) then you can figure out about how massive the body had to be to produce the level of tilt we see in the Earth.

Combat Ingrid · February 22, 2003, 04:23

Slightly off-topic, it would be interesting to see the effects of detonating a big nuke at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, I guess it should create a BIG fountain

The Mad Monk · February 22, 2003, 07:16

The only you'll find at the bottom of a subduction trench is sediments and water, and compacted sediments and water.

The Mad Monk · February 22, 2003, 07:19

Now, what level of technology am I allowed for the project?

I mean, I could always hurl neutron stars accelerated to near c at it, and that would do the job pretty cleanly, but it hardly seems sporting...

Lancer · February 22, 2003, 07:21

Oerdin, Mars sized object? It just blew through the solar system, hammered the earth, and kept on rolling?

Will the tilt of the earth ever flatten out, and end seasons? I guess it must have wobbled for a while, yes? If so, that flattened out...

The Mad Monk · February 22, 2003, 07:24

The "Mars Sized Object" theory is the current favorite, but it didn't keep it rolling (according to theory) -- it was destroyed and ingested by the Earth and (forming) Moon.

Richard Bruns · February 22, 2003, 07:30

Precision is always better than brute force. Spend some time studying the sun´s magnetosphere very closely, building up a comprehensive model of its actions and storing it in a supercomputer. Then send some neuton bombs to detonate at the right place and time, so as to create an enormous solar flare that enguls the planet and knocks it out of orbit. This would probably be feasable with current technology, and would probably only cost tens of billions of dollars, even if it would take 10 to 20 years to set up.

Eli · February 22, 2003, 07:39

How would a solar flare knock Earth out of orbit?

Richard Bruns · February 22, 2003, 07:52

Solar flares involve a lot of magnetic force, and if you got one big enough it could interact with the earth´s magnetic field and give enough boost to disrupt the orbit. It may take a few million years, but there certainly wouldn´t be anyone left alive to keep track of the time.

Ribannah · February 22, 2003, 07:56

Quote:

Originally posted by loinburger
So? How would you do it?

Simple. By doing nothing.

cia · February 22, 2003, 08:22

Mechanical Resonance.
Look it up under Tesla.
Crack this baby in under a month.

Lancer · February 22, 2003, 08:32

By doing nothing the world will eventually be destroyed according to current scientific understanding. However, that takes the "you" out of the premise.

Urban Ranger · February 22, 2003, 09:19

Quote:

Originally posted by loinburger
The two hunks of (anti)matter orbited around each other a few times, and eventually met at the center of the Earth

That can't happen. Once the anti-matter smacks at the crust it will produce an annihilation. The neutron star matter will blow a big hole on the crust like a big arse meteoroid

Ribannah · February 22, 2003, 09:28

Quote:

Originally posted by Lancer
By doing nothing the world will eventually be destroyed according to current scientific understanding. However, that takes the "you" out of the premise.

It will happen a lot faster than that if I do nothing.

loinburger · February 22, 2003, 09:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
That can't happen. Once the anti-matter smacks at the crust it will produce an annihilation. The neutron star matter will blow a big hole on the crust like a big arse meteoroid

The idea in the book was that the anti-matter began to ablate as soon as it hit the atmosphere, but that the stuff was so heavy and dense that not even rolling around inside of the Earth for awhile could significantly decrease its size -- it would never find a similar mass of matter until it found its neutronium counterpart.

Az · February 22, 2003, 09:40

Now, all you have to do is to get a neutron star into the solar system.

loinburger · February 22, 2003, 09:51

Well, if you're using an entire neutron star for the job, then you might as well just send the neutron star into the Sun. If the Sun doesn't just explode outright then at the very least it'll start sucking in all of the planets in the solar system, what with its quadrupled (or whatever) gravitational pull...

Urban Ranger · February 22, 2003, 09:57

Quote:

Originally posted by loinburger
The idea in the book was that the anti-matter began to ablate as soon as it hit the atmosphere, but that the stuff was so heavy and dense that not even rolling around inside of the Earth for awhile could significantly decrease its size -- it would never find a similar mass of matter until it found its neutronium counterpart.

There are actually a whole lot of problems:

1. Yes, it is very dense, a cubic centimetre is like 3 billion metric tons. It will have an inertia that is unimaginable. Try applying a force on it with apparatus made from normal matter is like trying to push an object with a shadow.

2. A neutron star is like 5 solar masses. If you get too close, the tidal force rips you and the ship apart.

3. Have 1 cc of this stuff on your ship near a neutron star, even at 1g, there's a force of 29400 billion newtons acting on a 1cm² area. I imagine it falls right down.

Use your imagination for the rest.

GePap · February 22, 2003, 11:41

I think anti-matter is stil the best way..if you can get a neutron start moving, my guess is you could figure out a way to dig to the core of the earth, and send down a huge device filled with anti-matter being kept from doing anyting with a magnetic field. Once at the core, or near the core, turn the magnetic field off, and BOOM.

And why go simply for a neutron start? Get a Red giant ont he move for that matter: a whole lot prettier to look at.

chequita guevara · February 22, 2003, 11:50

I'd just keep doing what we're already doing.

Alinestra Covelia · February 22, 2003, 12:17

Stardate 5296.38.3

Imperial Class Star Destroyer Rage and Interdictor Cruiser Compeller under the command of Admiral Senn, arrived at the star system known to the Galactic Empire as "Median" but known to the primitive indigenous inhabitants as "Sol". Radio waves and transmissions were detected from the third planet out from the center, and it was hoped that the Empire might find a useful outpost here.

Preliminary contact was made but after fifty diurnal cycles of observation it was deduced that the ocean planet (which called itself "Earth") was devoid of redeeming features and too backward to be of any use.

The Median system, however, provided a rare testbed for the Antineutronium Bomb. Admiral Senn sought and received approval from the Imperial Ubiqtorate and authorized the deployment of the Antineutronium Bomb.

Shielded from the immense heat by a static field, the bomb was inserted into the core of the star whereupon it was activated remotely. The resultant fast-breeder reaction of quarks, charms, and antihydrogen pushed the star almost instantaneously into supernova status, consuming the nearest four planets in a matter of six diurnal cycles.

Emperor Palpatine has sent his personal congratulations to Admiral Senn for the successful prototyping of the Antineutronium Bomb and has pushed for increased production of this rare and valuable weapon. The design schematics have been entrusted to an R&D station located in the Maw, under the authority of one "Admiral Daala".

DinoDoc · February 22, 2003, 12:24

Ooooo, that's good. Love the writing.

PLATO · February 22, 2003, 14:41

Quote:

How would you go about destroying the Earth?

Put the French in Charge

OliverFA · February 22, 2003, 14:50

Easy... let greens and environmentalists apply all their policies. If they don't destroy Earth I guarantee you that at least they will destroy all human life on Earth, which is a good aproximation

Jon Miller · February 22, 2003, 15:04

simple

I just ahve to stop beleiving that the Earth exists

Jon Miller

loinburger · February 22, 2003, 15:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I just ahve to stop beleiving that the Earth exists

DON'T YOU DARE! If you believe me out of existence, then I'm going to be so pissed off...

Az · February 22, 2003, 15:09

It's all in your head, anyway.

Oerdin · February 22, 2003, 15:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Lancer
Oerdin, Mars sized object? It just blew through the solar system, hammered the earth, and kept on rolling?

Will the tilt of the earth ever flatten out, and end seasons? I guess it must have wobbled for a while, yes? If so, that flattened out...

The solar system formed approxamitely 4.66 BYA ago; we get this date by doing radio isotope dating on rocky asteroids which have fallen to earth. Now there was alot of astroids, space debre, and planetoids flotting around out there at this time so the planets were still accreating.

Several Astrophysicists have spent alot of time figuring out where the stable plantary orbits are in out solar system and theorizing the process in which the solar systems accreationary disk would go through as it collapsed down into the sun and planets. Surprise, suprise, around 50% of the mater would have been located in unstable orbits which would have eventually crashed into one of the other planetoid or been ejected from the solar system. The Mars sized body was one of those left over planetoids which was located in an unstable orbit, bu, fortunately for us most of this unstable space junk has been gotten rid of during the last 4 billion years so we are more or less safe now.

BTW The mars size object would have also melted during the force of impact. Part of it would have been vaporized, part of it would have been reejected into space and much of it would have been added to the earth's own mass. Much of the near earth debri field eventually collapsed down to form the moon but for a couple of hundred million years the early Earth would have actually had multiple moons.

Lastly, the tilt will never flatten out. Objects in motion stay in motion unless altered by another force and all that.

Sarxis · February 22, 2003, 16:36

There's that theory that the Earth's core has an abundance of heavy elements. Causing a substantial atomic fission reaction down there may be plausible.

Causing the moon's orbit to fail might be another good way.

Hell! Its all good when it comes to blowing this piece of s*** planet up.

Lancer · February 22, 2003, 16:47

Thanks for the reply Oerdin. So the spin of the other planets is on a plane w/ the solar system? Would they never have been tilted by other bodies?

I was thinking that the force that gets all planets' spin into the plane of the solar system might be magnetism. Any chance that the sun's magnetic field might be the force which alters the 'object in motion' to bring them into line?

Also, will the earth ever flip flop because the spin wobbles or is that just bad sci fi?