WHAT IF SUN DISAPPEARS ONE DAY?
Hi everyone, I hope you are doing fine… if not here is an Amazing
Sci-fi article on a brand new “What – If” series. So let’s begin this wondrous adventure.
Introduction to our today’s Hypothetical Scenario
What if the Sun disappeared one day? A lot of us take the
Sun for granted. On sunny days, we complain that it's too hot! Yet, when it's
raining for days on end, we miss that big old ball of burning gas. But have you
ever wondered what would happen, if the Sun, just, suddenly stopped shining?
Well, the first thing that probably comes to your mind is that it will get a
whole lot darker and colder. True, but that doesn't even describe a bit of what
the consequences could be, because eventually, mankind would meet its imminent
demise.
What will happen?
Well, this is what some scientists think would probably
happen, so get your flashlights out...
In the first few minutes after the Sun stops burning, life
goes on as usual here on earth, because the sunlight itself is still traveling
toward the planet. But after eight and a half minutes, the skies go black, as
if someone just flipped a switch!
The entire planet is plunged into darkness. Families
enjoying a nice picnic in the park, beach visitors basking in the warm Sun, anyone
out for a midday stroll, feels especially shocked and terrified, But no matter
what hemisphere you're in, it's now the dead of the night everywhere across the
globe.
Forget about the moonlight, you can't even see the moon now
since there's no sunlight for it to reflect! So No Sun and no Moon as well!
Now, all you see are billions and billions of stars, shining
in the sky, since the light coming from the Sun can't outshine them. Just
imagine looking at your watch, seeing 3 p.m., in the middle of the day, yet a
night full of stars!
The disappearance of the Sun will begin changes and
disturbances in the Earth's ionosphere and its magnetic field. As a result, the
blanket of darkness may be disrupted by the Northern Lights also known as
"aurora borealis".
So far, other planets are still visible in the sky. For
example, we can still see Jupiter for another hour or so, because this is how
long it takes the remaining sunlight to bounce off Jupiter and return to Earth.
After an Hour
After an hour, once everybody has realized the situation
they're in; there will be a great panic all around.
People also feel incredibly sad, and that's because natural
sunlight works as a mood enhancer. So devoid of this, people start to fall into
the depths of depression.
Solar panels are now obsolete. But electricity continues to
function, and cities will remain lit up until the power goes out.
The temperature across the globe keeps going down by several
degrees. There's no sunlight to warm the surface of the planet, but the Earth's molten core is still heating it from the inside, In addition to this, the
greenhouse effect prevents the temperature from dropping too drastically, at
least for the first 24 hours.
What after a Day…
So a day has passed now, and the Sun still hasn't returned.
If it wasn't just our thought experiment, the planet would be in complete
chaos!
Authorities are at a great loss and have no control over the
situation. Looting and violence replace civil society - not only because of the
panic and confusion but also because people feel safer committing crimes in the
dark.
One of the worst things that will happen is that photosynthesis
completely stops after 24 hours. It's by this very process, that plants produce
oxygen, by taking in water, nutrients, light, and carbon dioxide. Quite soon,
every living creature on earth starts having difficulties, due to the
diminishing oxygen. It's probably the time to spend some of those energy stocks
(Money), you've been holding.
In the next few days, the temperature falls by a degree
Celsius or 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, it’s about 5 Degree Celsius all over the
world. This causes some heat dependent microorganisms and plants to die out.
Within a week or so, the average temperature on the Earth’s surface will fall below zero. You might now think that a lot of people live in
areas where there is much colder in winters like in Siberia. But the problem is
that the temperature keeps falling. Most of the plants have already perished due
to the extreme cold, and the heat-loving animals will soon disappear.
Herbivores are the first to go since their sources of food have vanished.
Scavengers would have a feast on these dead remains, until
the cold kills them, too. Nobody is a winner here.
Big
trees will survive for a couple more decades, thanks to their
significant sugar storages and slow metabolism.
Are there any ways to Survive?
People may survive the cold by building shelters but there
is no way to fulfill the need of food.
They might survive in areas with a lot of geothermal energy,
such as Iceland or Kenya.
Another way they can survive is by going deep underground,
where the internal heat of the planet is more intense. People might also
construct isolated igloos and dome-shaped structures that effectively fight off
the frost.
What after a YEAR?
After just one year, a very unhappy anniversary, the surface
of the earth becomes as cold as 100 degrees below zero! At this point, the planet might host some types of bacteria that can survive, even in unbelievably
cold temperatures, but other life forms, on the surface, have been wiped out
totally.
The top layers of the seas and oceans have frozen over by this
time, which surprisingly keeps the liquid inside for the next thousands of
years.
If any people managed to survive to this point, the only
place they have a chance of making it is on the ocean floor, near geothermal
vents, since they emit heat, welling up from the planet's hot core. But even
the ocean eventually freezes, after the temperature on the surface drops to
four hundred degrees below zero. By this time, there’s no life on the planet.
What happens to the earth itself?
Now, normally the earth orbits the Sun, at an unbelievable
speed of 67,000 miles per hour! But if the Sun stops burning, its gravitational
pull vanishes, and it no longer keeps the planets in their orbits. As a result,
the earth flies away into the outer space at the same speed.
To understand this better, imagine tying a small rock to a
string and swinging it over your head in a circle. When you let it go, the rock
flies away from you in a straight line...So this string is like the
gravitational force that holds the earth in its orbit, without this force, the
planet will wander away. But unlike the rock that will slow down and fall to
the ground because of gravity, in the vacuum of space, the earth will just keep
going at speeds of 67,000 miles per hour.
Chances are, that the earth will collide with a comet, or an
asteroid, or any other planet. But if this doesn't happen, where will our
planet end up?
After
about 43,000 years, the earth will near Alpha Centauri, the closest star to us.
In 1 BILLION years, it
will have traveled 100,000 light-years, that’s
the entire length of the Milky Way galaxy. (Did you know that?)
Of course, along the way, our planet can get pulled into a
black hole. After all, there are over a billion black holes in the Milky Way
alone. Or, it may find itself a new sun and join its solar system.
In any case, if the sun just stops working, the future of
our planet will turn into an exciting adventure across space. Unfortunately,
none of us will be around to enjoy the ride. Now, wasn't that truly amazing?
Just remember, though this was just a hypothetical scenario
the real future of this planet is that
it'll stay firmly "tied" to the sun for several billion years.
Our beloved star will increase in its size and turn into a red giant. It will
consume Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars too.
Five
billion years after that, the Sun will implode upon itself (Super Nova), throwing off its outer
layer, and leaving JUST a tiny dense core, turning our sun into a white dwarf.
Anyway,
tell us in the comments section below how was this post, and let's hope we
won't ever have to find out.
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