WILL THE EARTH BE HERE TOMORROW?
I recently read a post on Facebook that was sharing a news story that was entitled “” No evidence” that recovered COVID patients cannot get sick again” and I found some of the comments posted quite interesting. The one comment that really stuck out the most said, “Curious…is there scientific evidence that the earth will be here tmrw?”. I do not want to assume that the person who left this comment felt one way or another about the story, or if they really wanted to know if there was actually any “scientific evidence” that proves the earth will be here tomorrow, but I do feel compelled to find out the answer to this question and provide this person, and the world, with some good solid scientific proof that the earth will be…or not be here tomorrow. Since I am not a professional scientist, I welcome any constructive criticism in my attempt to follow the scientific process and how my results are found. I do hope that this helps anyone who is currently fearing that tomorrow the earth will be gone…assuming that I am able to prove it! If there is any other data or question you would like to have answered using scientific evidence, please email me directly, or list it in the comment section located at the end of this article.
The first part of being able to provide scientific evidence is to use the scientific method (sometimes referred to as the scientific process). The scientific method is a set of specific set of steps that the scientific community, as well as the world, have accepted as the best way to provide answers to questions that people can rely on to be accurate by proving specific and relative questions without allowing opinion or unproven data to influence it. Below is a chart that shows each of the steps that make-up the scientific method.
OBSERVATION
The earth could be destroyed by many different events but the most likely events are:
- Being hit by an asteroid
- Blackhole sucking our planet away
- Sun exploding
Although there may be more ways for the earth to be destroyed, these would be the most likely to happen.
QUESTION
Will an asteroid big enough to destroy the entire Earth hit us tomorrow?
RESEARCH
1-Kilometer. 1km is the minimum size that an asteroid or comet must be in order to have a global effect on our planet. Asteroids and comets that are smaller will still have the ability to have catastrophic results but if the asteroid or comet is going to have the potential to destroy everything on earth, it must be at least 1km in size.
There are no records, in modern history, of any human beings that were killed by an asteroid or comet in the last 1000 years. What is interesting is that there are reports from Ancient China of deaths due to an asteroid or comet impacting the earth
We also have to remember that our planets atmosphere is able to protect us from extraterrestrial threats like asteroids and comets. When an object from outer space enters our atmosphere, friction is created from the moving object rubbing against the air molecules located in our atmosphere. Since outer space is a vacuum, and has no air molecules, moving objects flying through space are not able to create any friction. The friction that is created when these objects enter earths atmosphere creates extreme amounts of heat around the object and it begins to burn away. The speed, size, and trajectory of the object will affect the amount of friction created and how much of it is burned away. This is great news for us because any asteroid, comet or other falling object that is less than about 33 feet in size will burn away completely before having the chance to make impact with our planets surface.
Source 1 – https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/asteroid-warning-april-2020/
Source 2 – https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/back2.html
HYPOTHESIS
The Earth will not be destroyed tomorrow by an asteroid, comet or any other object larger than 1 kilometer in size.
EXPERIMENT
The Experiment that I will be using to test my hypothesis will be to observe the satellite data from NASA and the NOAA to see if there are any objects in space right now that are on course to make impact with our planet, Earth, in the next 24-48 hours.
Below is a chart that was provided by NASA and their Near Earth Object program (NEO), whose purpose is to chart every object in space that is currently or expected to be relatively close to Earth and possibly on a path to enter our atmosphere and hit our planet’s surface. The NEO program is set up to track asteroids, comets, and any other type of object. The chart below provides the following data
- Object name
- Date the object will be closest to Earth
- Most likely how close the object will get to Earth
- The absolute closest possible distance the object will get to Earth
- Velocity of object relative to Earth at its closest distance to Earth
- Velocity of object relative to a “massless” Earth at its closest distance to Earth
- Absolute magnitude of the object
- Estimated diameter of the object
Object | Close-Approach (CA) Date | CA Distance | CA Distance | V relative | V infinity | H | Estimated Diameter | |
2020-May-01 01:05 ± < 00:01 | 4.36 | 0.01121 | 4.35 | 0.01118 | 23.39 | 23.38 | 24.2 | 38 m – 85 m | ||
2020-May-06 17:37 ± 00:04 | 2.08 | 0.00535 | 2.07 | 0.00532 | 5.38 | 5.29 | 28.1 | 6.5 m – 14 m | ||
2020-May-07 21:49 ± < 00:01 | 4.33 | 0.01112 | 4.33 | 0.01112 | 5.72 | 5.68 | 25.3 | 23 m – 52 m | ||
2020-May-09 10:55 ± 00:10 | 2.89 | 0.00742 | 2.88 | 0.00739 | 6.05 | 5.99 | 25.0 | 27 m – 60 m | ||
2020-Jun-14 13:10 ± 4_10:36 | 3.68 | 0.00945 | 0.91 | 0.00234 | 10.92 | 10.90 | 25.9 | 18 m – 39 m | ||
Source – https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/
DID THE EXPERIMENT WORK?
Yes, it did work.
RESULTS
The results of the data show that the largest object that is less than 5 Lunar Days(LD) from our Earth is only 85 meters in size (max). The chart also shows that none of the objects that are within a 5LD distance from earth are expected to get very close to Earth. The closest any of the objects could possibly get to Earth is 2.07LD away.
CONCLUSION
The earth will not be destroyed by any asteroid, comet or any other object, tomorrow or in the next few months.
I will not be providing the scientific method for the other possibilities listed (Black hole sucking up our planet and the Sun exploding) but I hope that this article is able to give everyone a better understanding of how the scientific process works. More importantly, I want to make sure that everyone is able to relax now and remain calm with this scientific proof that the earth will not be destroyed tomorrow.
Even though it looks like we will still be here tomorrow, I still suggest you let your family and loved ones know that you love them and make the most out of each amazing day that we have on this wonderful planet!