What If Earth Lost Power for 7 Days?

do you find the dark unsettling have you ever watched the big game on your refrigerator with all the conveniences of modern living available in your pocket or at the press of a button you have to wonder what if earth lost power for a week could you communicate with the rest of the world how much would it cost to restore the power and would there be complete anarchy this is what if and here's what would happen if earth lost power for seven days in 2019 a massive power outage crippled venezuela leaving the south american country in shambles armed biker gangs roamed the streets policing the citizens at gunpoint hospitals were left without power and ransacked supermarkets were left bare but what if the power went out worldwide and stayed off for a week would our global infrastructure collapse too the united states energy information agency estimates that in 2015 humans used about 575 quadrillion british thermal units of energy with about 7.3 billion people on earth that's enough energy for each of us to have 78 million btus so if a geomagnetic storm swept our entire planet there's no doubt there would be massive upheaval of social norms this event dubbed a black sky hazard would take out all our communication networks the storm caused by coronal mass ejected from the sun would propel electromagnetic energy at our planet at the speed of light the excited particles in the upper atmosphere would disrupt radio signals used by satellites you wouldn't be able to contact your friends and relatives who live further away your cell phone may be fully charged but without an active network you'd essentially be holding a paperweight in the beginning you might not even realize that the outage is global you may even enjoy the first night since there wouldn't be any electronic distractions and you'd have a clear view of the night sky but there would be a cost 30 minutes after the initial hit a wave of electrons and protons would follow damaging the electronic circuits in satellites this deadly dose of radiation could also threaten astronauts in orbit or passengers in high-flying aircraft many of our satellites need space flight operators on earth to control their courses with no one at the helm satellites could crash into space debris or each other meanwhile back on earth hospitals could face catastrophic effects from the power outage the energy currents produced by a geomagnetic storm could induce power lines to destabilize the grid's operation this massive surge could destroy transformers around the world the best backup generators are only able to provide about 24 hours of power so intensive care units across the world would suffer tremendous losses ventilators wouldn't function and medical staff would have to use manual devices like rubber lungs to keep patients alive people who need dialysis would go without it and doctors would have to make difficult choices about people's lives and power plants across the world would fail whether they're fueled by coal natural gas or nuclear fission it could take days or even weeks to restore them to full capacity the cooling systems of nuclear reactors would fail and total nuclear meltdowns would happen it could take weeks to restore europe's massive interconnected power grid which supplies energy to over 24 countries and 400 million customers and none of this includes the cost in dollars assuming that we'd still be using money once the power comes back when two million customers in california lost power for two days the u.s department of energy estimated it cost the economy around two and a half billion dollars according to the u.s department of energy 33 percent of american businesses could lose twenty thousand to five hundred thousand dollars with the banks shut down you wouldn't be able to access the cash in your accounts let's hope you kept a little savings in your piggy bank but the stores have limited stocks of items and without cash registers and payment systems things could get ugly fast the masses could grow restless and take these essential items by force if it means keeping their families alive so with chaos raining in the streets could you drive away to the woods well unless your car has a full tank you won't be getting far gas pumps wouldn't be functioning traffic lights wouldn't work and the roads could turn into a demolition derby but it's not just your car at risk thousands of people would be stranded underground in subways if you were flying airports would have 24 hours to land the planes before their backup generators quit the world's transportation industry would be crippled and unable to deliver needed supplies and depending on where you live there's more than a lack of supplies that should worry you it's the sudden stoppage of services emergency services couldn't take your calls people stuck in elevators couldn't call for help and without furnaces supplying heat people in colder areas would have to rely on burning wood or a tight snuggle to stay warm and without power the pumps in the water towers wouldn't work so many areas would suffer devastating water shortages you would have to conserve your water carefully because there's only so much left in the tanks to distribute each glass of water would drain our supply the electric sewage systems couldn't pump away waste so every flush could wreak havoc on your plumbing this could cause an overflow of waste that backs up into your home and that's not the only thing that's going to wreak on day 2 the perishable items in your fridge will start to expire and without garbage pickups these rotting items would pile up in the streets with so many of our services dependent on electricity a geomagnetic storm wouldn't just leave us bored without social media it could leave us stinky starving and desperate and while this event might seem unthinkable to you according to the world bank there are 1 billion people living without electricity and hundreds of millions live with unreliable or expensive power keeping several developing nations in the dark to combat this some experts are working to develop artificial intelligence that could predict power outages and there's still a lot of research to be done on how to make renewable energy sources more reliable for mass consumption but maybe you're tired of living in this modern nightmare and want to live completely off the grid what if you lived in a closed biosphere well that's a story for another what if you

Channel: What If

Views: 588,760

Rating: 4.9269791 out of 5

Keywords: what if, what happens if, scifi, science documentary, what if scenario, mysteries, power, lost power, dark, energy, electricity, generators, emergency services, no electricity, without electricity, what if earth, documentaries, hypothetical scenario, science, documentary, unsolved mysteries, unexplained mysteries, hypothetical, interesting facts, current electricity, facts, earth, interesting, documentary channel, solar power, renewable energy, global cooling, solar energy

Id: 2FyjYsgvFM4

Length: 8min 59sec (539 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 28 2021