• Question: Will energy ever run out?

    Asked by Mariha to Andy, Dwaine, Tatiana on 25 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Andrew Scott

      Andrew Scott answered on 25 Jun 2015:

      Hi Mariha,

      Energy as a concept will never run out. Everything has some energy and we never actually destroy it, only change it into a different type of energy. However, the fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) that we use to produce most of our electricity, fuel for cars and heating will run out. I’m not sure what the current estimate is as it changes a lot, but it might well be within your lifetime. Other energy we use comes from the sun. For example solar power and the energy that plants use to grow. Eventually the sun will also run out of energy, but that will be millions or billions of years in the future.

Comments

  • Photo: Mariha

    Mariha commented on :

    So would this mean the sun would explode?
    🙁

  • Photo: Andy

    Andy commented on :

    I’d always thought that it would die out in a very boring way, but I’ve just read a couple of things to check and I think I was wrong. Depending on what you read it might explode taking the earth out on the way. The alternative is that is slowly expands, swallowing up the planets close in. Because the earth will then be closer to the surface of the sun, the earth will get hot and all the water will evaporate. The earth might also get sucked in, but all the humans would have fried by then anyway.