Which is supposed to happen first: the sun exploding or plate tectonics ending and the "death" of earth?

Question

I was watching the History Channel and it was about the history of the earth. It also showed what the earth will look like in the future. It was showing that plate tectonics would push the continents back into pangea, and then then the earth would eventually dry up and life would end. I was wondering which would happen first: the sun exploding and destroying earth and the life on it, or the earth drying up and life ending.

Answer 1

The idea that plate tectonic processes will form another Pangea is a theory not a definite future event.  The History channel just presented one possibility of earth's future.

Even if another Pangea forms, I don't think we could predict when it would happen in relation to our sun becoming a red giant and then a planetary nebula.

Answer 2

Im voting for the explosion of the super-volcano under Yosemite National Park!! Mass extinction!!

Plate techtonics takes a LONG time to change the global effects. The sun isnt scheduled for self-destruction for several hundred years... But the super volcano is already late and building amazing energy!

Answer 3

The effect of plate tectonics on the earth is only one equation which will cause the earth to dry up and life to end.

However, the life cycle of the sun is far more predictable and has a direct impact on what happens here on earth. The Sun hasn't even hit middle age yet and will probably burn for another 5 billion years before it becomes a red giant -- it won't "explode" because it doesn't have the mass to do so.  Some theories suggest that the inner planets will be burned up, while other theories suggest that all the planets orbits will simply adjust as the Sun expands.

It is estimated that the Sun's temperature will slowly increase and that increase will actually boil away the Earth's oceans and atmosphere, probably within one billion years.

Essentially, the Earth dries up and dies because the Sun is heating up and expanding.

Answer 4

Plate tectonics is predicted to ceases in 500 to 1000 million years form now due to steady loss of heat from the mantle. The sun is predicted to burn out in about 5 billion years.

The process of forming a supercontinent such as Pangea (There have been several others before that such as Rodinia) and breaking it up is known as the Wilson Cycle and is pretty well established.