How people can destroy the Solar system?

We humans do not protect their home planet. And similarly, we probably will behave in space. Below we list twelve ways in which people, unwittingly, may cause serious damage Solar system.

Whether still will be…

1) the Accident at the particle accelerator

If such an accelerator accidentally flies out, some exotic forms of matter, that humanity risks to destroy the entire Solar system as a whole.

Even before construction began on the Large hadron Collider (LHC), some scientists feared that the collision of charged particles created by using the accelerator of high energies, you may experience all sorts of unpleasant things like vacuum bubbles, magnetic monopoles, microscopic black holes and stranglets (i.e. “strange matter” — the hypothetical form of matter which is similar to normal, but consists of heavy strange quarks). However, the scientific community has rejected these stories, labeling them with the words “nonsense” and speculation, which distributed “by Amateurs in pursuit of sensation or for the sake of self-promotion”. Moreover, as was shown in the report for 2011, published LHC Safety Assessment Group, particle collisions pose no threat.

Research fellow, Institute for the study of human’s future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University (a division of the Oxford Martin School Anders Sandberg, agreeing that the accident at the particle accelerator is unlikely, at the same time warns that if strangley in any way will appear, “would be bad”. That’s what a scientist wrote on the website “If the substance of such a planet as Mars, will turn into “strange” matter, it simultaneously released part of the rest mass in the form of radiation (and scattering in different directions of strangetown). If we assume that the conversion will take an hour and freed up 0.1% in the form of radiation, the luminosity will reach 1.59*10^34 watts, that will surpass the luminosity of the Sun almost 42 million times, and most of it will be hard gamma radiation”.

Silenced readers: of course, the TANK is not capable of producing strange matter. However, it is possible that this may happen in the future in the course of any experiment on Earth or in space. According to one hypothesis, strange matter exists under high pressure inside neutron stars. If we can artificially create such conditions, then the end will come very soon.

2) Project star engineering went according to plan

Humanity could destroy the solar system, severely damaging or changing the Sun when you run the project so-called “star engineering” or violating the planetary dynamics.

Some futurists predict that in the future, mankind (or our more advanced descendants — “post-humanity”) can run any number of projects of “star engineering”, including even the transition to the “star economy”. In his “Interstellar migration and the human experience” (Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience) David Krival from University of Houston described the “star economy” as an attempt to influence the evolution and properties of stars, including an increase in the duration of their life, taking raw materials and the generation of new stars. To star burned less intensively and therefore work longer, “star engineers” of the future will have to remove the excess mass of the star (the bigger the star, the faster it burns).

But still, the probability of disaster is high. Star engineering can lead to unpredictable consequences and trigger a cascade of uncontrollable reactions. For example, artificially reduce the mass of the Sun on its surface can occur abnormal and terrifying power of the outbreak, or, on the contrary, the luminosity of our Sun will shrink, threatening life on Earth. In addition, can significantly change planetary orbits.

3) Unsuccessful attempt to turn the planet Jupiter into a star

Some believe that it would be nice to turn Jupiter artificial star. But the attempt to realize such a project can fail and destroy not only Jupiter, but along with him, and life on Earth.

In the Journal of the British interplanetary society (Journal of the British Interplanetary Society) astrophysicist Martin Fogg (Fogg) proposed the following: to make Jupiter a star in order to four of its largest satellites could be habitable. To this end, in the distant future, mankind must plunge into the bowels of Jupiter a small black hole, and so to accurately calculate its parameters without having to go beyond the boundaries of the Eddington limit (the point of equilibrium between the external radiation force and the internal force of gravity). According to Fogg, this way it will be possible to get “enough energy to create the desired temperature on the surface of its moons (Ganymede and Europe) — the same as on the surface of the Earth and Mars, respectively.

Like, everything went smoothly. But possible surprises. As Sandberg said in an interview at first everything seems to go fine but the black hole can increase in size and engulf Jupiter, then the result of radioactive flashes of life in the Solar system will cease. After the disappearance of all life and the Jupiter absorption of a black hole, in the surrounding space reign chaos.

4) Violation of the orbital dynamics of planets

As soon as we begin any way to change the mass and trajectories of planets and other celestial bodies, we risk to upset the delicate orbital balance in our Solar system.

The orbital dynamics of our Solar system is too fragile. Scientists have shown that even the slightest disturbance can lead to chaotic and even potentially dangerous orbital movements. The reason for this is that the planets of the Solar system are in resonance, i.e., the condition in which any two periods are in a simple numerical ratio (for example, the orbital resonance of Neptune and Pluto is 3:2, as Pluto makes two full revolutions for every three revolutions of Neptune).

It turns out that two orbiting celestial bodies can influence each other, even if they are apart too far. As a result of frequent close approaches to planets can suddenly happen that smaller celestial body will be destabilized and begin to move from their orbits — and this process will capture the entire Solar system!

Such chaotic resonances can occur by themselves, naturally, or we can provoke them by moving the Sun and planets. How can you not remember about star engineering, about which we spoke above. If Mars is moved to the area suitable for life (and this can be done, for example, pitting it from orbit with an asteroid), the result of this orbital balance can also be compromised. On the other hand, if humanity is going to build a Dyson sphere using the material produced on mercury and/or Venus, the orbital dynamics may change in an unpredictable manner. The result is that mercury (or what remains of it) can fly beyond the Solar system and the Earth will be dangerously close to any large object like Mars, and maybe will face him.

5) Threat maneuvering warp drive

Spaceship with warp engine (engine that develops superluminal speed) — something, of course, tempting, but extremely dangerous.

The warp drive known as the Alcubierre engine, ever appear and work by generating a bubble of negative energy around you. When flying on a ship with warp drive space will be compressed in front of the ship and expand behind it. Due to this the spacecraft of the future will be able to accelerate to speeds not limited by the speed of light.

Unfortunately, this energy “bubble” can be a dangerous thing. Back in 2012 a group of scientists decided to simulate the destruction that can cause the warp engine. Here is what this says about Jason major from Universe Today:

“Space is not just emptiness between point A and point B… it contains a lot of particles that have mass (and who do not have). A group of scientists… concluded that these particles can “fly” on the bubble deformation and focus in the areas in front of the spacecraft and behind him, as well as in the bladder.

After a space ship with warp drive will go into airplane mode for subluminal speeds, then assembled them in the bubble particles will be emitted in the form of energy bursts. The brightest will be bursts of particles before ship — that will be quite enough to destroy all in the course of motion of the spacecraft.

“Because of the strong purple of the displacement of particles in the front area, anyone who will appear on the way the vessel would be destroyed by gamma radiation and high energy particles”, the article says.

According to scientists, even if space flight for short distances, the energy released will be so great that will be able to destroy everything in its path, and, under the word “all” can be even a whole planet. In addition, since the amount of this energy will depend on the path length, potentially at the intensity of this energy there is no limit. Flying at high speed a spaceship propelled by a warp engine, will be capable not only of destroying the planet, but also to make a disaster of even greater proportions.

6) Artificial “wormholes” attains a disaster

The use of space-time tunnels (the so-called “wormhole” or “wormhole”) to overcome the limitations of interstellar travel — it’s all good in theory, but to break the space-time continuum we have with extreme caution.

Back in 2005, Iranian nuclear physicist Mohammad Mansourian proposed method of creating such a wormhole. In the mind of the scientist, making a sufficient number we need exotic matter, we could run a tunnel in the cosmological fabric of space-time — path through this tunnel and will be the shortest route to the spacecraft.

Article Mansuryan somehow obscures the negative consequences of this approach, but they are on the website told Anders Sandberg:

“First, to create the neck “of the wormhole” takes a lot of energy (possibly negative) in the scale of the black hole of the same size. Secondly, when you create “time loops”, there is a probability that the virtual particles become real, causing streams of such particles this wormhole will destroy. The surrounding outer space, apparently, not be good. And, in addition, if you connect the Sun with some other fairly large object (like described in the book by Stephen Baxter, “Ring”), it will be possible to ‘pump’ the Sun and/or burn with the help of radiation throughout the Solar system.”

Yeah, the destruction of the Sun is nothing good will not bring us, and the hard radiation, again, will kill in the Solar system all living things.

7) Engine scadova and a navigational error leading to the crash

If in the distant future we suddenly want anywhere to move the Solar system, we risk to destroy it completely.

In 1987, the Russian physicist Leonid Shkadov proposed the concept of a mega structure — the “engine scadova” — which is able to literally drag our solar system somewhere in other place, for example, close to one of the neighboring star systems. Why? Below in the distant future to replace our aging and fade Sun on a younger star.

Here’s how Adam Hadhazy explains the working principles of engine scadova” in the magazine “Popular Mechanics”:

“From a theoretical point of view, the engine scadova simple: the enormous size of the curved mirror, the concave side of which faces the Sun. This mirror must be placed at an arbitrary distance, where the gravitational pull from the Sun is balanced by the pressure of light emission. Thus, the mirror will become stable and static artificial satellite located at the point of equilibrium between the gravitational force of attraction and pressure of the solar wind.

Solar radiation will be reflected from the inner surface of the curved mirror back towards the Sun, thus pushing the Sun with his own light — reflected energy will create a small thrust. So is the engine scadova by which mankind will migrate through the galaxy.

Possible emergency situation? Very much. We can miscalculate and to dissipate the Solar system in the universe, or even to collide with another star.

Here arises an interesting problem: if we learn to travel between stars, we need to understand how to manipulate multiple small objects located at the periphery of the Solar system. We have to be careful. As Sandberg warns, “the destabilization of the Kuiper belt or the Oort cloud, there will be a myriad of comets that are going to bombard everything”.

8) what if we attract the attention of evil aliens?

If the proponents of search of extraterrestrial civilizations will find what you were looking for, then humanity will soon pass messages into space and tell the aliens about us. And the aliens, of course, must be good, right?

9) Return the mutated probes von Neumann

Let’s say we send in the space fleet of self-replicating with great speed probes von Neumann to colonize our Galaxy. Let’s say that they have been programmed with errors, or someone deliberately creates evolutionary probes. Then, after a long period of mutations, they can turn into hostile creatures.

Ultimately, our smart spacecraft will return to earth, to tear the Solar system apart, to suck all the resources and destroy life as such.

10) the Threat from interplanetary gray goo

There is still something very similar to self-replicating space probes, but only much smaller: quickly self-replicating nanorobots and macrobody, carrying with them the threat — the so-called “grey goo” that will uncontrolled way to consume the planet’s resources to reproduce itself. And one planet Earth they will not be limited. “Grey goo” can get on Board a space ship, a fragment of the planet and even to appear in space as part of a gigantic project. Is this the “gray goo” to get out of control within the Solar system, how it all will turn, as they say in the cereal.

11) a Riot of artificial superintelligence (ISI)

One of the dangers in creating artificial intelligence lies in the fact that he is able not only to destroy life on planet Earth, but to spread even further, populating the Solar system, and even penetrated beyond it.

The severity of the problem well conveys an often mentioned example with paper clips, in which ISI programmed as necessary, converts the entire planet into a paper clip. But going out of control, the ISI is not necessarily to produce the clip; perhaps he will do something else, for example, will uncontrollably play computer processors and turn all matter on Earth in a material called “computronium”. Maybe ISI have even developed some of his meta-ethical principles to spread them across the galaxy.

12) Make a Solar system useless

That’s what will remain of us in this case.

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