Amending the constitution to abolish term limits, then reelecting George W. Bush is not on this list. Nor is climate change / global warming. Although both certainly are / would be capable of achieving apocalyptic results.

No, this Live Science list of ten ways to literally destroy our planet focuses more on physics, and is a humorous (albeit somewhat frightening) read.

Our primary conclusion: Physicists have too much time on their hands, but can be surprisingly funny and creative when given the chance.

Here’s the list, with a brief description and feasibility rating (FR) of 1-10 with 10 being the highest for each mass destruction option …

1. Hurled into the sun. Figure out how to move the Earth and this is easily the most plausible of the options. FR: 9
   
2. Eaten by von Neumann machine. Completely over our heads, but evidently doable. See explanation here. FR: 8
   
3. Pulverized by impact with blunt object. Anything can be destroyed if you hit it hard enough. Whole movies have been made about this. It might take something the size of Mars, but it could happen. FR: 7
   
4. Systematically deconstructed. Nuclear holocaust is one option within this option, but one could also dig up the Earth, a chunk at a time, and boost the whole lot of it into orbit. The drawback - it would take awhile. FR: 6
   
5. Sucked into a giant black hole. Very difficult, but not impossible. Locate black hole, move Earth towards it. Simple. By 3000 A.D., when technology to make it happen should be available, we can think about it. Add at least 800 years for travel time, however. FR: 6
6. Destroyed by vacuum energy. Physicists believe vacuum energy may be the most abundant energy source of any kind, so all you need to do is figure out how to extract and harness it in some kind of power plant - a task that must be done without arousing too much suspicion - then surreptitiously allow the reaction to run out of control. FR: 5
   
7. Blown up by antimatter reaction. One large particle accelerator and around 2,500,000,000,000 tons of antimatter and we’re good to go. FR: 5
8. Sucked into a microscopic black hole. All that’s needed is a microscopic black hole, which could come about almost instantaneously, really. Simply place your black hole on the surface of the Earth and wait. FR: 2
   
9. Gobbled up by strangelets. Don’t even ask. FR: 1
   
10. Total existence failure. Self-explanatory. Impossible. FR: 0