Perfect Disaster

[Blazerhawk 162]

I just thought I would see what people thought the worlds worst disaster could be. Each of these is a real possibility. Just FYI The Midwest Disaster would be centered near Memphis Tennessee and Canada/New York would be somwhere along Lake Ontario.

[Easy Bakes 253]

A big enough solar flare could incinerate the whole earth.

[villarule 2]

im guessing the sun turning into a red giant would be the worst, we'd all be beggered

[Firebird 40]

THE SIMTROPOLIS SERVER CRASHING!!!!!!!!! WHAT COULD BE WORSE!!

[Boggy1 45]

Probably the coolest ever disaster would be Total existence failure

Cos, like all two hundred thousand million million million million billion trillion atoms making up the planet Earth suddenly, simultaneously and spontaneously cease to exist for no apparent reason.

Or how about the dreaded Earthquake-enhanced tornado being hit by a radio-active meteor event?

(Copyrights http://www.exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm)

Oh, and, I dont see how a Hurricane could get to New York. It's too cold.

THIS may get too New York though:

(Copyrights http://www.bbc.co.uk)

[Micah 16]

What about the Core stopping? What a joke... (I hated that movie).

Boggy, that last image is such a copy off of 'The Day After Tomorrow'.

[Boggy1 45]

Micah: Wrong, bwha, its from an amazing drama-documentry called End Day. Its about this guy, who works at a particle accelerator, and he is going to work, but before he gets to the airport (he's in the UK), there is a mega-tsunami that hits New York..and his place of work.

Then it starts over again, and he gets up to go to work, and he gets to the airport, but before he can board, comets destroy a load of Berlin, so the plane is grounded.

Then, it starts over again, and he gets up to go to work, and he is on the plane, but back in London, bird-flu mutates and people start dying every where, so the plane has to land somewhere else and is quaranteened.

Then, it starts over again, and he gets up to go to work, and he gets on the plane, and he lands in New York, but then Yellowstone goes BOOM, and so they cancell the experiment he was going to do at the particle accelerator.

Then, it starts over again, and he gets up to go to work, and he gets on the plane, and he lands in New York, and he goes to the particle accelerator, into the control room, and turns the key at the end of the countdown....and the earth is destroyed.

And yeah, The Core was pretty sad..so unrealistic.

[justanothersim86 83]

A switching of the Earth's magnetic poles would be horribly disasterous. 

A tidal wave in New York, or a bunch of F3-F5 tornado's in Chicago or Toronto would be bad.

[Boggy1 45]

justanothersim86: Why? All it would do is make North South and South North.

[justanothersim86 83]

Since humans have never witnessed a reversal we don't quite understand what would happen, but there are theories that a severe reversal could cause the earth to lose much of its protection. This would bombard is with lethal doses of cosmic radiation. which could lead to an extinction event. There have been many such events in the past that may not have caused such death, but one could do that. Not to mention it would screw things up quite a bit.

[nealos101 20]

No such thing as a perfect disaster, but in my views of a perfect disaster would be one that killed all involved in a such a disastor - an untimly event where all victims were killed, not survivors.

Im not interested in the super-power crushing disastors - I get that rubbish all the bloody time, I think a possible perfect disastor that could happen in our lifetime is a famine, one that takes hold all at once and people cannot get food or nurishment.

[hamsterTK 93]

the worst disaster is the one that destroyes your home. So really, a tornado next week could be my candidate.

But meh, a solar flare that fried all modern electronics(and ruin all cars ignition and stuff too), would be the worst. One day, its 2005 and the next its 1805.

[Micah 16]

Well, you had your say, boggy. haha. But as soon as I saw that image that you posted, I thought it was 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Let's compare your photo to the movie's photo:

BBC's Documentary Image


'The Day After Tomorrow' 's Image


Well, personally, I say BBC knocked off their artist image from the movie. But that's just me.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, folks, I picked nuclear war.  Because of the overkill capability, civilization as we know it would be gone.  Even if I survived unhurt, I would have about three months to live without the drugs that keep me alive.  I would either have a stroke or a heart attack in about a quarter.

The effects of unlimited nuclear war means that magnetic bursts would destroy most automated systems, and the heat and shock would take out a lot of the phusical aspect.  Water bursts could easily contaminate areas far inland, and really dirty bombs with, say cobalt casings, could spreat radio-carbon 14 over very large areas, and throughout the atmosphere.  The half-life of that stuff is 5,000 years.

I don't even think the ants would win.

[choco1 4]

I think Nuclear war too.  There are enough nuclear bombs on this earth to kil every man, woman and child 12 times over.  We could not escape it, and it would scar the world, pushing us into nuclear winter or something similar. 

We are definately our own worst enemies.

Choco.

[ACEfanatic 7]

Nuclear War by far.

I live in the Shenadoah Valley, so I'd, theoretically, be safe. (The valley wouldn't be seriously contaminated by anything but a direct hit... at which point the arguement is moot.) Still, EMP from modern devices would burn out the world's electronic systems. Shockwaves from some of the larger nukes could do some unpleasent things to the Earth's geology - perhaps preemptively triggering earthquakes on a massive scale.

And that's not to mention the effect on the biosphere by glassing half the planet.

So, yeah. The others on that list don't live up to the destructive capability of nuclear war.

-ACE

[hamsterTK 93]

nuclear would be the worse, but since that one is man made at least that one is fully preventable(at least theoretically). something caused by mother nature would be worse since there isnt absolutely anything we can do to stop.

Personally, i dont think we will ever have full on nuclear war. i know thats being optomistic, but i think that people are learning that in a nuclear war nobody wins, and that any sort of nuclear attacks will be done with tiny devices that despite killing thousands and making large sections of cities unihabitable, do not create earth-shattering explosions that trash the planet and make us extinct.

[Ma8thew 77]

Eruption of Yellowstone.

[Compromise 1]

I also voted Nuclear War which I hope humanity in the end prevents but there are others there that are almost definatley going to happen one day unless technology really advances such as the Mega-Tsunami flooding the entire United States East Coast.

[vid 0]

'Oh, and, I dont see how a Hurricane could get to New York. It's too cold.'

Hurricanes have hit New York many times. they've also hit Toronto, Halifax, St. John's, and after thjat they loop around and the system will go into Scandinavia (though it's just a low pressure system by then)

Even Thunder Bay has been hit with the edge of a hurricane (it wasn't hurricane force, though) in 2003. We were in Minnesota when it hit. Got lots of sleet and stuff. And New York can go up as high as 35

[moganite 4]

the ultimate disasters are much much bigger than that but stupidly unlikely mostly

Neutron star pasing within 150 million km of the sun not only would our orbit probably be destroyed bu the sun would lose most of its fuel.

Supernova within 250 light years the hard gamma radiadtion and particle radiation would irradiate to a depth of tens of m destryoing all surface life the rest would survive but probably die from radiation posioning/starvation.

an object more than 6 km diameter colliding with the earth has happened but its very rare occurs bout once every 70 million years or so. 85 percent of species extinct. a Ricther 13 or 14 earthquake possible on the other side of the planet.

One that we could have a hand in; runaway greenhouse effect resulting in the planet looking like a twin of venus. no life bar extermopiles survive.

Both the Greenland and Antartic ice sheets melting raising sealevels by anywhere up to 60 m (thermal expansion also accounts for alot of this. Everyone affected possibiity of series of wars as nations fight over the few remianing resources leeading to the possibility of Nwarfare basically our economy would become preindustrial in a few years. Starvation even in developed countries as harvests fail due to lack of resources and climate change. all people affected major possibility of Ecological collapse 6th mass extinction. These icecaps will probably melt within my lifetime i am 30 now.

Genticall Engineerd organism akin to something like HIV only airborne could have a fatality rate of 95 percent but it will probably be alot lower in some areas due to better disease control and isolation. Economic collapse will take centuries or milleia to recover.

God deciding he wants to pull the plug on his version of The Sims 6000K now with free will.

All of the above are bigger impacts than the list and result in the total anihilation of our species or very nearly so. all of the events listed are local appart from Nuclear war and the a spervolcano eruption.

for me if i was to stick to the list the it would be a tossup between those 2 and nuuclear war would probably win out as it alot more likely to occur given our nature as a species.

[slimbox 0]

Originally posted by: Boggy1 justanothersim86: Why? All it would do is make North South and South North.quote>

our protection from radiation (solar flares and such) would weaken or something by the shifting magnetic lines

[screamingman12 30]

I also think that the eruption of Yellowstone would make it to the top of my list for two resons:

1) it may happen sometime soon*

2) It is powerful enough to destroy everything within 4,000 square miles in it (roughly the whole North American Continent)

*when scientists say "soon" they mean +/- 10,000 years

[Boggy1 45]

Eh, in responce to the magnetic field flip question...

Not good: the magnetic field of the Earth is fading -- and fast. It seems to be preparing to flip over. Suddenly, our compasses would point southwards. But will there still be someone around to notice it?

They say it gives you cancer. That it makes the use of electricity impossible, throwing us back into the Middle Ages. It should turn the atmosphere into a deadly brew of toxic gases. That’s how it goes, when suddenly, the Earth’s magnetic field stops -- and flips over.

In case you didn’t know -- the Earth is in fact a giant magnet. Around it, there’s this huge magnetic field, invisible to the eye. It's a force field, really. It protects us against dangerous, incoming radiation from the sun and from deep space. If you’re an incoming space particle, the field will drag you away, and drop you somewhere on the south pole or the north pole. You can see this as it is happening: the rain of space particles is what we call the Aurora Borealis, the northern light.

But every now and then, the magnetic field fades, and flips over. North becomes south, and south becomes north. Such magnetic flip-overs are probably just as common as Ice Ages. On average, they occur once every 250,000. But the last time it happened, it was 780,000 years ago -- so you could say it’s time for the planet to flip again.

The Earth strikes back: the magnetic field pushes radiation from the Sun away

And hold your horses, our world might be doing just that. For at least three centuries, the Earth’s magnetic field has been fading, in an ever faster pace. Right now, it is about 10 percent weaker than it was when scientists started keeping track of it in 1845. Also, there’s the poetically named ‘South Atlantic Anomaly’. That’s a huge chunk of Earth, deep underneath the ocean floor, where the turnover has already begun.

Gladly, the pole shift doesn’t mean the world is about to ‘fall over’ or something, as many people fear. The ice caps won’t suddenly move to Africa. During flip-over, only the magnetic poles change position. You will have to change the name ‘north pole’ into ‘south pole’ and get used to the fact that compass needles point southwards from now on. That’s basically it.

But you wouldn’t be reading this on a site about the end of the world, if there wasn’t some problem, too. When north and south swap, our magnetic space shield will be down for a while. In fact, computer simulations suggest an even more bizarre scenario. For thousands of years, there will be multiple magnetic poles, aimlessly wandering about. There will be a few magnetic north poles lumbering through your backyard, while another magnetic pole -- say, a south pole -- will pass in front of your house.

This will have all kind of bizarre effects. Birds and other migrating animals will lose their way. Ships, airplanes and travelers relying on compasses will get lost, too.

Meanwhile, the night sky is filled with ghostly streaks of colored light -- that Aurora Borealis again, but this time in your backyard. There will be power cuts, as the Earth is hit by solar radiation. Watching TV, listening to the radio or talking over the telephone will become difficult, and sometimes impossible. Communication lines will be downed; satellites will be zapped. There could even be spontaneous outbreaks of fires -- this is what happened during an extreme solar radiation storm in 1859. And back then, the magnetic field was on!

Meanwhile, your body is zapped, too. The invisibly small space particles shoot through your body, ripping through your DNA. This can give you cancer, or horribly mutated offspring. For several thousands of years, it will be like living next to the crashed nuclear plant of Chernobyl. Well, with the exception that in Chernobyl, you could at least use the telephone!

So gradually, humanity will be reduced to a monstrous, sick, cancerous and demented bunch, right? Well -- perhaps not.

Indeed, all unpleasant effects outlined above are real. But science agrees that they won’t be that severe. The magnetic flip won’t wipe out our civilization, as many doom sayers suggest. Fact is, we can do without our magnetic blanket for a while.

The field

Take a look at the cancers. It is estimated that without magnetic field, we would have 15 extra cases of cancer in every 1 million people a year. That is of course awful -- but hardly catastrophic. Each year, more people die of the common flu!

Without magnetic field, Earth is still protected by its thick atmosphere. If you’re that evil particle from outer space again, you will have to zig zag your way through a thick soup of oxygen, nitrogen and other gases first, before you can finally shoot a human being. Chances are that long before, you will have bumped into an atmospheric gas molecule.

In fact, there are two places where the magnetic field is almost zero already: the north and the south pole. There, the field dumps the space particles it has caught -- right on the heads of the Inuit (Eskimos) and polar explorers. But despite all that, the Inuit and the explorers are doing fine. Even their electricity works.

And if that doesn’t calm you down, consider this. You and I won’t live to witness the next swap. It should take at least a few more centuries, before the poles come marching in.

That being said -- one nightmarish fact remains. In the long run, the magnetic field could indeed kill us all. In a few billions of years, chances are the field shuts down for good because the Earth’s core freezes... But that’s another story.

(Copyright Exitmundi.com)

[hym 358]

The worst disaster:  Armageddon.

[eedoon 0]

This might not be happening soon but if the sun turns into a Red Giant we'll all be swallowed into it.

[Boggy1 45]

eedoon: Actually, we wont be, it will come into the orbit of Venus, but not Earth. Sure, at that distance, even rock melts, but hey, at least we wont be swallowed.

[Micah 16]

^ Haha. You haven't replied to me about the two images. Oh well.

[redfox85 659]

the sun might not even have a chance to kill Terra, as the Andromeda Galazxy is expected to swallow/merge with the Milky Way, meaning our solar system will eithier be flung into in the middle of no where or into a region thats hyper-active with Novas and Super Novas. During this time, its possible the planet could escape orbit and become an orphan floating through space.

[Boggy1 45]

Micah: meh, ok, fine. But the flooding was caused by totally different reasons. BBC: Earthquake. TDAT: North Atlantic Current shuts down.