Periodic Disasters and Extinctions

Numerous studies seem to indicate that the earth has undergone periodic variations in disasters and extinctions. The mass extinction of the dinosaurs is well known. However, there have been other mass extinctions besides the dinosaurs'.

The biggest mass extinction, called the "end-Permian" mass extinction -- occurred approximately 250 million years ago. The mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs occurred approximately 65 million years ago and marks the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. In the end-Permian mass extinction approximately: 90 percent of ocean species died; two thirds of reptiles and amphibian species died; and about 30 percent of all insects died. For comparison: another mass extinction that occurred approximately 439 million years ago -- at the end of the Ordovician period -- killed off about 57 percent of life while the Dinosaur extinction killed off about 47 percent of life.

For this analysis, let's round off the numbers for these 3 mass extinctions to: 50 million years ago, 250 million years ago, and 450 million years ago. It appears that for these three mass extinctions that a 200 million year cycle is occurring. (By no means is there a statistical proof here though.)

This 200 million year period matches the 200 million year period that it takes our galaxy to travel around the galaxy once. Is there a relation between a trip around the galaxy and mass extinctions? I believe the answer is, Yes! Are mass-extinctions periodic? I believe the answer is, Yes. Are they inevitable? I hope not, but the Ball-of-Light Particle Model predicts they are. I believe it might be possible to prevent the next natural mass-extinction. However, it will take quite a bit of scientific study and massive preparations.

The key detail in the mass extinctions is they did not happen "overnight". They happened over hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of years. A single event, such as a huge asteroid hit certainly could have had a devastating affect, and may have killed off the dinosaurs, but such a major, single event natural disaster would have caused its destruction in days, years, or tens of years -- in a "geological blink-of-the-eye." Another detail, that strikes me as odd, the big dinosaurs seem to have been affected worse than the smaller ones. How could an asteroid hit do that?

The Ball-of-Light Particle Model leads to this line of reasoning:

The solar system orbits the galaxy approximately every 200 million years.
Gravity increases and decreases periodically during this cycle. It goes up when the solar system accelerates and goes down when it decelerates.
Both increasing and decreasing gravitational forces could lead to negative events here on earth that could lead to a mass extinction.
The most likely negative event would be the destabilization of the sun's core.

Decreasing Gravity's Negative Effects

Decreasing gravity makes the sun less stable, causing the sun to:

have more sunspots
have more solar eruptions
give off more radiation
increase temperatures here on earth
expansion of the earth's crust could increase earthquakes
damage the ozone layer in the atmosphere allowing in more harmful radiation

Increasing Gravity's Negative Effects

In general, the Ball-of-Light Particle Model predicts more negative impacts occur when the gravitational field decreases. However, when the gravitational field increases, negative effects can still occur:

earth's orbit will become more elliptical resulting in more dramatic temperature variations in the seasons
a more elliptical orbit for earth would cause colder temperatures and lead to ice-ages
crushing forces on the earth would increase the number of earthquakes, and they probably would tend to be more severe
crushing forces on the earth would cause more volcanoes
a greater gravitational force in the solar system would disrupt orbits of planets and smaller bodies that orbit around the sun creating a greater chance of impacts from objects such as comets and asteroids (The devastation that would occur here on earth from an asteroid hit is obvious. However, a major hit on the sun could cause the core to destabilize resulting in a massive solar eruption -- indirectly leading to devastation on earth.)
a greater gravitational field would make it more difficult for large land animals to survive due to their need for more energy just to move around
possible destabilization of the sun's core (See below)

Destabilizing the Sun's Core by Gravitational Induction (Does this cause Planetary Nebula?)

The Ball-of-Light Particle Model predicts that an increase in gravitational forces could indirectly lead to a situation where a star's core becomes destabilized. The line of reasoning goes like this:

A star has a large planet
The orbit of the star is fairly circular
The stellar system is accelerated, inducing higher gravitational fields
The higher fields will make the orbit of the star more elliptical
As the star reaches its closest point to the star in its elliptical orbit -- perihelion -- its velocity will become higher than normal due to a greater gravitational attraction between the star and the planet (See also, Jupiter, Gravitational Induction of an Electromagnetic Wave on a Ball-of-Light)
This could gradually -- over thousands of orbits -- pull the planet into the star, or eject it from the solar system
As the planet spirals into the star, its velocity increases, inducing greater gravitational forces
This spiraling affect worsens until, the induced gravitational forces destabilize the core of the star
At this point a massive explosion could occur creating a situation called, interestingly, a "planetary nebula."

I do not consider the masses of the planets in our solar system to be large enough compared to the sun's mass to create the planetary nebula situation just described. However, I could be wrong about this. And who knows, maybe there used to be more planets. It is possible that each extinction was caused when our galaxy lost a planet -- caused by a planet spiraling in and colliding with the sun. Even if a planet does not spiral in, even if a planetary nebula is not created, a solar eruption larger than what life on earth is adapted to could occur.