Scientist explains how the world will end: 'What follows is pure hell'

Physicist Professor Brian Cox has outlined a scientifically predicted, dramatic end for our planet in the BBC series 'Wonders of the Universe.' His vision, grounded in the laws of physics, describes a sequence of events that will ultimately extinguish life on Earth.

Cox explains that the Sun, currently halfway through its lifespan, will inevitably begin to run out of hydrogen fuel in its core in approximately one billion years. This process will trigger a chain reaction: the core will collapse under gravity, generating immense heat that causes the Sun's outer layers to expand. For Earth, this means a catastrophic rise in temperature, leading to the evaporation of oceans and the formation of a Venus-like atmosphere, rendering the planet uninhabitable.

Billions of years later, around six billion years from now, the Sun will enter its final, most dramatic phase as a red giant. It will swell to an enormous size, potentially engulfing Mercury and Venus. While Earth might escape direct destruction, it will be reduced to a barren, scorched rock orbiting a dying star.

Ultimately, the red giant will explode, shedding its outer layers to form a planetary nebula. At its center will remain a white dwarf, the dense, dim remnant of the once-mighty Sun. This cosmic drama is driven by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which dictates the universe's natural progression from order to disorder, a concept Cox refers to as the "arrow of time."