Many are wondering if the Mayan Calendar 2012 is true and if the world will meet its end on Friday, December 21.

This topic has been hotly debated in the field of science discovering and presenting conflicting evidences that support or negate the notion of apocalypse this year.

The Mayan Calendar ends on December 21, 2012 and is claimed to be the start of a world apocalyptic event. While most people look at it as another prophecy that will not happen, some people believed that the prediction is true.

Mayans have always been ahead of their time and made viable contributions in the fields of astronomy and mathematics. Their calendar had a 5,126-year cycle, so many wonder why the ancient civilization, known for their advanced grasp on astronomy, chose this date. The Mayan calendar is divided into bak'tuns, 144,000-day cycles. According to NBC News, the last cycle on the calendar is fast approaching.

Other people believe that instead of destruction, humanity will enter a new era both physically and mentally. Skeptics believe nothing will happen at all and refer to the craze as an Internet hoax.

Mayan experts, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States government also debunked the apocalyptic prediction.

During a recent symposium in Yucatan, Mexico, three Mayan culture experts readily debunked rumors of an impending apocalypse.

The conference, called "Mayan Cosmic Gathering," included archeologist Tomas Gallareta, astronomer Arcadio Poveda Ricalde and professor Marte Trejo, who delivered speeches clarifying misconceptions about the Mayan calendar.

According to a statement released for the event, the three Mayan experts concurred that the Mayan calendar does not predict the end of the Earth.

However, there is always a possibility that the Earth will meet its doom since not all things can be predicted by science.

Below are some of the possible ways on how the world will end on December 21 as predicted on the infamous Mayan Calendar.

  1. Volcanic Eruption - Giant eruptions have contributed to mass extinctions, including the one that killed off the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. Volcanic eruptions always come unannounced. A strong volcanic eruption may cause tsunami and unzipping of the fault system.
  2. Terrorist Attacks - Rogue forces may take advantage of the commotion that will happen on Friday. They may pose threat to nations they have disagreement through biological warfare or invasion of the city that will yield to the deaths of many.
  3. Deep Impact - Another possible way how the Earth will end is through a collision of an asteroid. Asteroids typically top the list of extraterrestrial objects that could hit Earth. However, it is impossible to find every asteroid that could pose a threat to the Earth. Moreover, NASA can only find the asteroids but an asteroid that is almost the size of the Earth cannot be stopped.
  4. Solar Storms- Solar storms are part of the cyclic activity of the Sun. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame. Though NASA said that it could do no harm to Earth, we never know.
  5. Comet Collision - Comets zoom through space at almost 100,000 mph and pick up speed due to Earth's gravitational pull, he said. The faster an object moves, the bigger the force it exerts on whatever it happens to hit and the more energy it deposits. Moreover, finding comets in the outer solar system is very difficult because these dirty snowballs are extremely dark.