The End of the World As We Know It

Do you want to destroy the Earth? Sure, we all do. So, to that end, LiveScience has compiled its top 10 ways to destroy the Earth. Sadly, it's a lot more difficult that you would think. Some of the potentially effective methods involve black holes of varying sizes, millions of tons of antimatter*, von Neumann machines, or, the number one way of destroying the earth:

Hurl the Earth into the Sun. Sending Earth on a collision course with the Sun is not as easy as one might think; even though you don't actually have to literally hit the Sun (send the Earth near enough to the Sun (within the Roche limit), and tidal forces will tear it apart), it's surprisingly easy to end up with Earth in a loopy elliptical orbit which merely roasts it for four months in every eight. But careful planning can avoid this.

*It has been said that combining matter with an identical quantity of antimatter will destroy the universe. This is not true. Nor is going to an Italian restaurant and combining pasta with antipasto.