Question: Will the earth explode?

Monique Henson answered on 17 Nov 2015:

Probably not – or at least I can’t think of a reason why it will any time soon. There is something fairly nearby us that’s going to fall to pieces relatively soon though – Phobos, a moon of Mars. Phobos is so close to Mars that it’s being slowly broken apart by tidal gravitational forces from Mars. Scientists have noticed there are long grooves along its surface, which suggest that its slowly being pulled apart. It looks like it won’t happen for another 30 to 50 million years though, so you’d have to wait around for quite a while to see it. You can see images of Phobos and its strange features here.