8 terrifying ways the world could actually end

The outcome of a presidential election might inspire unbridled hope — or make you feel like the world is ending.

Yet both feelings ignore the humbling truth about our fragile existence. Life exists on Earth only because it teeters in a delicate and truly improbable balance. Our atmosphere, proximity to the sun, and countless other beautiful coincidences not only permit living things to survive and evolve but also thrive.

And yet, here we are, sitting at desks and in coffee shops and walking down the street like it isn't some kind of extraordinary miracle.

But all good things must come to an end.

One day Earth will be inhospitable to anything resembling life as we know it.

The life on this planet likely won't cease until billions of years from now. But, depending on the vicissitudes of astrophysics, it could also happen tomorrow or anytime in between.

Here are the many ways scientists believe the Earth could die.

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1) The Earth's molten core might cool.

Earth is surrounded by a protective magnetic shield, called the magnetosphere.

The field is generated by Earth's rotation, which swirls a thick shell of liquid iron and nickel (the outer core) around a solid ball of metal (the inner core), creating a giant electric dynamo.