What would happen if the Sun disappeared
8 minutes: The Earth would have realised the Sun had disappeared. It would also travel tangent to wherever it was travelling around its orbit.
30 minutes: The light from Jupiter would have blinked out.
2 - 3 days: Most plants would have died due to no food from photosynthesis.
1 week: The average global temperature would be 0 degrees Celsius. Great trees would have died because of their water and sap would have solidified. The Earth's extra-terrestrial light would only be of a full moon.
1 year: The average global temperature would be -73 degrees Celsius. Any human who wasn't living underground or near geothermal plants would have died.
1 - 3 years: The Earth's oceans would have frozen all the way. At the bottom of the oceans, liquid water could still exist and so could extremophiles like microbes.
10 - 20 years: The air would have condensed into liquid and would rain on the Earth, and later snow.
1 billion years: The Earth would have travelled 100000 light years or have crossed the Milky Way.
Anything to add?
Note by
Sharky Kesa
7 years, 4 months ago
Easy Math Editor
This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.
When posting on Brilliant:
*italics*or_italics_**bold**or__bold__paragraph 1
paragraph 2
[example link](https://brilliant.org)> This is a quote# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"\(...\)or\[...\]to ensure proper formatting.2 \times 32^{34}a_{i-1}\frac{2}{3}\sqrt{2}\sum_{i=1}^3\sin \theta\boxed{123}Comments
Assuming you didn't die too quickly, the stargazing would be pretty amazing.
Log in to reply
Awesome stargazing.
If we mapped out the constellations while the Earth travelled, we'd find that they were centered at the original orbit of Earth.
Perhaps new types of species will emerge.The ones which can adapt to this change.
Log in to reply
Extremophilic species.
its interesting as well as horrifiying.
Very informative!
We'd die
Log in to reply
We might be living underground.
Log in to reply
Maybe we can generate energy from the earth's core.
Log in to reply
Exactly
Log in to reply
Either way we would most likely die due to having no food and we simply don't have enough time to prepare for that kind of disaster (Unless they're already doing that right now).
Log in to reply
Do you know that humans have enough food already to last a whole year without any crops. Also, hydroponics might be vastly expanded so we may be able to live.
Log in to reply
Also, I think it would possible to use electricity from geothermal/nuclear/ plants to make artificial sunlight to feed our plants. Though only a fraction of humans would survive in an underground bunker.
Log in to reply
Probably.
I don't understand the 10-20 years part. Without the sun, how is there rain or snow?
Log in to reply
It was so cold that the air condensed into liquid and clouds which precipitated.
If the sun had gone, what would happen to the Earth's orbit and other celestial bodies out there? Would we naturally just achieve a perfect balance again in our solar system as nature always does, orbiting another object (which would take probably hundreds of years) or what?
Log in to reply
possibly, but it would take millennia. The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4 light years away or 37.8 trillion kilometres. Since the Earth was travelling at 30km/s, it would take about 4000 years.
Log in to reply
It might happen but it's not certain that it'll happen. It's still possible that the earth getting caught by another star might not happen.
If sun disapears photosynthesis in plants and trees does not occur and physicaly all the planets will collasped if its center sun disappears,no heat energy no light
after some billion year:-maybe earth get in to another orbit around other star due to gravitation field of that star...and life again cherish on earth due to its heat n light
Log in to reply
This might happen but it's not certain for it to happen. Although the earth gets caught by another star, it depends on the distance from the star. If the earth is too close or too far away, then it'll be too hot or too cold, which oceans might evaporate away or freeze solid, which makes it uninhabitable. If the earth is just the right distance for the star, the temperature would be justifiable enough for life to occur.
That's might happen but it's not certain for it to happen. We learned about probabilities in maths. Whether things would happen or not, it's due to chances. It's still possible that the earth might not get caught by another star.
The situation what can be terrible is that if the earth gets consumed by a black hole. If that happens, then there's no chance that it might get caught by another star as the earth will be destroyed by the black hole.
Don't worry too much. This is just an animation and that's not real. The sun won't disappear right away. This is just a fake scenario.
Assuming you didn't die too quickly........
Earth can be enter in another orbit and life will on.
Log in to reply
It would take millennia to millions of years.
Log in to reply
Whether it'll happen or not, it's pretty much due to probability chance. It might happen but it's not certain for it to happen. It's still possible the the earth entering other orbit might not happen.
earth attracted by healthy gravity plant or galaxy
Log in to reply
Possibly but unlikely.
Firstly, if the sun ever dissapears then it would go through these transformations, The nuclear fuel in the sun is slowly finishing off, but the sun's gravity will remains the same, so what will the sun do? Well, it's gravity won't be able to make it a black hole so the nuclear fuel will try to push out and the sun will would become what we call a RED GIANT STAR . The effects of this would be way adverse such that the temperature would tremendously increase up ,all the water would dry up and the worse life will be in extreme danger. It would not end here because then the gravity would say ''now, you have had your turn let me have mine.'' The gravity will try to pull the sun in but to some extent as I mentioned before it cannot turn into a black hole.Then the sun will become what we call a WHITE DWARF STAR as it will shrink to 1/100th size of earth and will become tremendously cold.What about life on earth?All the left precipitation(water in any form) will freeze and life till that time will become very scarce. The life of sun would not end here.I will be starting a discussion on this soon Secondly , There are 4.5 billions years still left for this to happen and by that time, mankind may have found life somewhere in the stars .
Log in to reply
I meant that the Sun completely vanishes. A wormhole could make this possible as well as the matter of the Sun to quantum tunnel to a different region of space.
Log in to reply
I tried to state it in another way.The presence of a wormhole can definitely be a reason but their presence in our galaxy would have been detected and that would be a BIG HEADLINE because they cannot just pop out from anywhere or emerge out of nothing. P.S I plainly don't know much about wormhole theory and the above given statement is an intuitive one.
The sun will die in 5.4 billion years later, not 4.5 billion years later. That's because the sun's mean lifespan is about 10 billion years and the sun already lived for 4.6 billion years already. 10 billion-4.6 billion=5.4 billion So the sun will live for about 5.4 billion years more. The math calculation is important.
Don't worry about this. A billion is a big number and it's 10^9. A million is 10^6, which is if you double multiplied thousand. A billion is if you multiplied million by a thousand. It's 5.4 billion AD, which is a very big number. We probably won't live for billions of years and we'll probably die about a century later since we're born and billion is a huge difference than a century. We'll all probably be long gone before the sun dies out, so don't worry. Living organisms would disappear quite long before the solar death. When the sun dies, there'll be no one around to witness them. 5.4 billion is slightly bigger than 4.6 billion and there's a difference of about 800 million between these numbers. The solar death is about 800 millions years more than since the solar birth, so we're still slightly before halfway. In the year 400,000,000 AD, then the sun would have reached halfway of its life, and 400 million is still a big number.
Log in to reply
What you needed to worry more are things that are happening right now or in the near future like several decades later, which are like global warming, air pollution, animal threat, rising sea level, natural disasters, enemy wars like the American Civil War, scary diseases like mosquitoes, snakebites, wild animals, life hurdles like learning new stuffs, etc. About the far future, you don't have to worry because it's far away, it won't happen tomorrow, next year, nor in your lifetime, etc. and there's still a vast plenty time. Even though you already passed away, it won't happen anytime sooner and even during your grandchildren's ancestor's life, the global apocalypse won't happen anytime sooner. You probably won't live that long like for billions of years to witness the scary world apocalypse and you'll probably be gone before this happens, like about a century since you're born. Some animals like the giant tortoise might live longer than humans but for centuries rather than for billions of years. Billion year is a much bigger difference than a century. A century is just a tiny fraction of a billion year. If you use a scale, a billion second is still long and it'll take about 31.71 years to reach to a billion second.
Log in to reply
Humans are poaching too much sharks every year. About 100 million sharks gets poached every year and 1 billion every decade. Please try to depict through this with the billion scale. Sharks getting poached is at a swift rate. It'll take about 3.17 years to reach 100 million seconds and 31.71 years to reach 1 billion seconds, so 100 million seconds is thrice as bigger than a year and 1 billion seconds is thrice as bigger than a decade. That means in a second, about 3.17 sharks gets poached.
The solar death is estimated to happen around 5.4 billion AD., not in 1 billion AD. This is a much bigger scale. It'll take about 31.71 years to reach to a billion seconds and 171.233 years to reach to 5.4 billion seconds. 171.233 years is between the mean lifespan of geoduck and giant galapagos tortoise. The geoduck's mean lifespan is about 165 years and the giant galapagos tortoise's mean lifespan is about 175 years, so to round off, 171.233 is closer to 175, which is closer to the giant galapagos tortoise's mean lifespan.
If it's now very near 5.4 billion AD, like say 5,399,999,980 AD, then you needed to worry more about the solar death because it's very near to that year like about 20 years later. However, we probably won't be there during that year and we'll all probably be long gone before the solar death. In the near future, humans might build new civilizations and invent more robots. The cities would become more complex, fascinating with robots and flying cars. Try to think more about the present and the near future. Maybe astronomers would go on a mission to find another stellar system like the solar system if possible, so that we can move somewhere else during the solar death.
Math calculations are important. Now, we're in 2,018 AD, which is close to the Birth of Christ. We can say in 65,000,000 BC or 65 million BC, the dinosaurs went extinct, 4,600,000,000 BC or 4.6 billion BC, the solar system was born, in 13,800,000,000 BC or 13 billion BC, the Big Bang occured.
About 900 million years later, or in 900,000,000 AD or in 900 million AD, we can say that there's still 4.5 billion years left. The sun will die in 5,400,000,000 AD or 5.4 billion AD is better to say. Think through this perspective. For example, in the year 300,000,000 AD, would you still say 5.4 billion years later? No, because the leftover time is decreasing, so you should say the exact year. It's the same thing with the dinosaur extinction. The dinosaurs went extinct in 65,000,000 BC or 65 million BC is better to say. Think through this perspective. For example, if we're in the year 3,000,000 AD, would you say 65 millions years ago? No, because the time difference was shorter in the past and the difference increased since then.
Log in to reply
When talking about events, I suggest you to say the year'a name rather when how many years ago/later because as time changes, the year difference will also change. You can only say how many years ago/later if it also mentions the specific time. For example, "If it's now 1,965 AD, the American Civil War have ended about a century ago", then this sounds reasonable to say as it mentions the specific time. In 2,018 AD, you won't say a century ago because it's more than a century ago. The other situation when you can only say many years ago/later is if you talk orally, not in the written form. You can say "The dinosaurs went extinct about 65 millions years ago" if you talk orally, not in a written form.
The earth might have caught by another star's gravity, especially if it came too close. Then life might restart on earth not it's not certain for it to happen. If gets caught be another star, whether it's habitable enough for life to restart or not, it depends on how far the earth is from the star. If the earth is too close to that star, it'll be too hot for life to occur. We may burn to death and the oceans might evaporate away. If the earth is too far away from that star, it'll be too cold for life to occur. We may freeze to death and the oceans might freeze solid. If the earth is just the right distance from the star, it'll be a justifiable temperature for life to occur. We can survive the temperature and oceans will remain liquid.
if I ever wish to die...........that is how I wud wish to! for it wud be a super stimulating experience to perish this way
Log in to reply
Actually,i would love to die like that.The sight would be intriguing.
Couldn't Earth start orbiting any other much larger body like Jupiter??
Log in to reply
No. Jupiter's gravity is not big enough and even if the started moving in the direction of Jupiter we would be bombarded by asteroids in the asteroid belt.
Log in to reply
During the solar system formation, Jupiter might have been a star but it was a failed star because it didn't fuse properly and the nuclear fusion already exhausted before Jupiter could ignite into a star.
Log in to reply
Jupiter didn't form as a star because it didn't have the necessary mass at all. The formation of Saturn stopped any chance of that.
Now it's already too late because Jupiter failed to ignite into a star and the nuclear fusion already exhausted during the solar system formation.
If Jupiter became a star, it could be possible. Trying to ignite Jupiter is now too late because the nuclear fusion didn't work properly, so the nuclear fusion already exhausted before Jupiter ignited into a star.
Jupiter might become a star if there are some things which helps with its nuclear fusion, which is if there's another stellar nursery. Stellar nurseries are clouds of gases which activates to form stars.