Robert Frost once wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice," and according to experts, the true answer is neither. While fire and ice are both formidable opponents when it comes to destruction, the chaotic extermination of the world would likely require something bigger than both. As it turns out, those Doomsday prepper bunkers aren't as silly as most people think

The earth is not invincible and according to experts, it is possible that the end of the world could come in the form of something man-made or a natural disaster on a scale we have yet to see. Surprisingly, there are plenty of things that could bring the ultimate end of days, but some carry a bit more weight than others. Get that expiration-free food ready, because these are the things that could have the potential to end all life on earth.

The Collapse Of The Ecosystem

It's no secret that the world's ecosystems have been in trouble for some time. Between global warming, pollution, and the overfishing of our oceans, the collapse is likely to begin with them. According to Stephen Petranek, our generation is dealing with a mass extinction rate that's 10,000 times the fossil record.

The delicate balance within the forests and waterways on earth can only be disturbed so much before it slowly begins to collapse. If the recent wildfires in Austalia are any indication, we also need to face one of Frost's great forces of destruction: Fires started by human error.

An Accident With Particle Accelerator Experiments

At Brookhaven, which is a town on Long Island, there exists a particle reactor. The laboratory used it to create miniature black holes which, if you've kept up to date on sci-fi movies, could lead to very large black holes. And if you've kept up to date on high school science classes, black holes lead to, well... absolutely nothing.

Literally nothing - if one were to get out of hand and the experiment was to go wrong, the world would cease to exist in seconds. Bigger accelerators are being built, and the goal is to create antimatter - which has the power to obliterate anything it crashes into. To say this is dangerous is a black-hole-sized understatement.

A Magnetic Field Reversal

This can happen, and it has before. While a reversal between the north and south poles is not uncommon, it would mean chaos for the entire world. With the magnetic poles reversed, a lack of a magnetic field would soon follow and would last for roughly 100 years, according to Petranek. From this point, it's a domino effect - with a lack of magnetic field to protect the earth, the sun's rays and particles that have been kept from earth's surface now have free reign to scorch anything in their way. It's been roughly 780,000 years since the last time this happened, so according to experts, we're also overdue for it.

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A Massive Asteroid

We've all heard this one before. In fact, we've had a few scares over the last decade that have made the general population mildly nervous. This is by far one of the greatest threats, as it's one we wouldn't necessarily be able to guard against. Some experts say that it's more a matter of "if" than "when" and, similar to a rogue solar flare, we'd be powerless to stop the mass extinction that would be soon to follow. An asteroid would only need to be five miles wide in order to do, but its impact would be larger than any destruction we've yet to see, caused by humans or otherwise.

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