This is the third book in the series that included 'The Theory of Nothing' the "The Universe Revealed.' My purpose in this new book is to more fully explain how science is actually done and how science fits into our culture along with religion and p...
No, this isn't an alien planet orbiting a distant star. It's our nearby neighbor, Venus. Venus is a planet that has descended into Hell. It's hotter than hell with a crushing atmosphere. The landscape is volcanic and the temperature is hot enough to melt lead.
The reason why Venus is so important is because it's what Earth will be like in a billion years. Earth and Venus will be very similar. Earth will become a fiery, molten world just like its companion planet.
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Four billion years ago after they first formed, Venus was once a planet much like Earth is now. They are nearly the same size but somewhere along the way Venus suffered extreme global warming from a greenhouse gas containing atmosphere and a star that began to heat up. The sun's luminosity (brightness) increases 10% every billion years. No matter what we do, Earth will suffer from this increase in the energy output of the sun.
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There are some very strange things that are different about Venus. A large planet-sized object struck Venus and caused the early Venus to spin in the opposite direction compared to the other planets. Venus's spin is 240 times slower than Earth's. Venus also doesn't have much of a magnetic field. This allowed it to be blasted by the sun's solar wind, causing water vapor in its upper atmosphere to be split into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen blew away and the oxygen combined with both carbon and sulfur to create oxides of both. The sulfur dioxide created sulfuric acid. Talk about acid rain!
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The reason that scientists believe that there was abundant water on Venus at one time is because they have found granite on Venus' surface. Granite requires water to form. But, Venus couldn't hold onto its water. It's a hot dry planet now. Part of the reason is that Venus is closer to the sun and the sun has turned up the thermostat over the billions of years. This basically caused Venus' oceans to evaporate, forming a cloudy atmosphere that trapped the sun's heat. The solar wind eventually blew the water vapor away. Couple this with heavy vulcanization and Venus was doomed. Venus is covered with volcanoes and they spew huge amounts of lava, contributing to the greenhouse gas effect. On Venus, it snows molten metal, mostly bismuth and lead.
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This is going to happen to Earth in a billion or so years. Our oceans will begin to evaporate and create a moisture-laden atmosphere, which will trap heat. Eventually, the surface will be heated to the point at which metals will melt. This is classic image of Hell. And, this has nothing to do with what we do. It will happen even if we weren't here.
