Did you know that the sun produces the same
amount of energy as 100 billion hydrogen bombs every second?? That’s just enough to keep us nice and alive. From never-ending nights to plummeting temperatures,
here are 8 things that would happen if the sun went out…. 8. Eternal Darkness While you may think this question is silly,
Albert Einstein believed it to be an important thought experiment. What would happen if the sun went out?? The first thing is that the world would go
dark! Interestingly, because the sun is so densely
packed with elements, Photons created within the sun’s core actually take as little as
4,000 years, and as many as hundreds of thousands of years to reach the sun’s surface. From there it’s clear space, though, and
it then takes light about 8 minutes to reach us on earth. If the sun were to suddenly go out, the light
that’s already travelling at 671 million miles per hour, would take about 8 minutes
to reach the Earth. This doesn’t, however, mean that we’d
have any time to prepare. Light is the fastest known travelling thing
in the universe, so we’d have no way of knowing that the sun has vanished before everything
goes dark. It would feel like night time across the entire
planet. Luckily we’d still have electricity supplies
so we would be able to artificially illuminate our homes and cities in the same way as we
do during nighttime already. It would all be dark, but we would have light
as long as the power lasted. Not all that comforting. 7. Gravity Would Disappear Scientists originally thought that gravity
was instant. As soon as the sun went out, we would have
zero gravity and the Sun’s gravitational pull on the earth would stop as soon as the
sun wasn’t there any more. The first thing we would notice would be the
loss of gravity, then light. However, Einstein proved this to be incorrect. His theory of general relativity showed that
gravity has a speed, and it’s the same as that of light. So technically, if the sun were to disappear
right now, we would still continue to orbit its position for a further 8 minutes before
things got weird. Gravity essentially means that the earth is
constantly falling towards the sun, but the Earth’s momentum stops us from heading directly
towards it- instead we are on a very gradual spiral. The moment that the sun’s gravitational
effect stops applying to the earth, the planet will retain its momentum and continue in a
straight line through space. The actual consequence of this happening would
be unknown, because all other objects in the solar system would also suffer the same fate. Each planet and object would be released at
different times because of their distance away from the sun, so would be sent on wildly
different trajectories. It’s quite possible, then, that the earth
would collide with another planet or chunk of space debris. Or it would simply travel off into the depths
of space forever. And it would be really, really cold. 6. The Moon and Planets Would Be Invisible The night sky is covered in different sources
of light- from the nearest objects such as the moon and other planets, to stars that
are billions of light years away from us. Those objects with their own light sources,
such as distant stars, will continue to shine like they always have done, but the objects
that are closer to us will go out one by one. The reason for this is that those within our
solar system are only visible to us because of the light that shine on them by the sun,
and then is reflected back to us. The moon would be the first to disappear from
our night sky, and this would happen within seconds of us losing direct light from the
sun. The other planets, though, would take a little
longer to go. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn
are visible by the naked eye from Earth. Mercury and Venus, being closer to the sun
than us, would take a relatively short time before they were no longer visible- depending
on the position of their orbit this could take up to 20 minutes. Mars will still twinkle in the sky for up
to half an hour after the sun goes out, while Jupiter will remain for up to 90 minutes,
and Saturn for as long as 2 and a half hours. Even Pluto, on the edge of our solar system
that can only be viewed through telescopes, would no longer be visible within half a day. 5. Temperatures Will Drop As well as being the primary source of light
to our planet, the sun is also the main source of surface heat. The moment its rays stop reaching us, the
planet will begin to cool. This won’t be as immediate as the light
vanishing, though, because the earth’s atmosphere retains heat rather effectively. In fact, in comparison with the very cold
objects in space, Earth will stay relatively warm for millions of years. Of course, this would be of no help to us
living here. Within a week of the sun going out, the surface
temperatures on earth would be around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, or -17 degrees Celsius, and within
a year this would have fallen much further to around -324 degrees Fahrenheit, which is
about -198 degrees Celsius. The temperature will continue to drop, and
the only warmth on the planet will be provided by the molten core. It’s thought that if the earth were only
being heated by geothermal vents from the core, then the temperature would level out
at about -400 degrees Fahrenheit. This means about -240 degrees Celsius on the
surface after a few hundred years. The surface of the Earth would be frozen,
leaving a liquid ocean underneath. If we survived this, our only hope would be
to somehow create underwater cities near these geothermal vents on the ocean floor. 4. Plants Would Die Plants are the fundamental food source on
earth, and the moment that light stops reaching us after 8 minutes, their ability to produce
nutrients through photosynthesis will end. This won’t immediately kill the plants,
though, because when it’s dark they breathe oxygen like every other organism. They will all enter this state, which means
they will begin to use up all of their energy supplies and then, eventually, die. The smaller plant species won’t survive
more than a few days, although others may survive for weeks. Virtually all vegetation will have died within
months, though, with the exception of some of the largest trees. They have such large food stores, and are
so resistant to cold temperatures, that they could potentially survive for decades before
finally succumbing to the effects of the sun going out. However, it would be hard for them to withstand
the negative 150 Fahrenheit after the first year... 3. Animal Life Would Die The combination of the lack of light and lack
of warmth would certainly spell the end for most species on Earth- especially since there
would be no more vegetation for food sources. Soon, animals that rely on plants will die,
and predators will, themselves, run out of food and die as well. The only species that will last longer are
the scavengers, who will likely have large enough sources of food because everything
else has died, that they will be able to survive until it gets too cold for them to live. There are exceptions to this, because not
every organism on earth relies on the sun. Microorganisms that live close to the Earth’s
core, or in volcanic vents in the oceans, won’t notice any difference at all, and
could continue to live for millions if not billions of years. Interestingly enough, this frozen Earth would
be similar to the moons around Jupiter. Astronomers believe they could also have microbes
living in their frozen waters. As humans, the sun going out won’t necessarily
mean the end for all of us. Those that are prepared or fortunate enough
will be able to survive. If you assume that we can get enough food,
it would be possible to live in submarines in the deepest and warmest parts of the oceans,
or even live in contained habitats that are powered by nuclear or geothermal energy. In Iceland, for example, they already use
geothermal energy to heat 87 per cent of their homes, and this is a power source that will
remain available for hundreds of years after the sun has gone out. 2. The Ocean Surface Would Freeze You might expect that the water on earth would
freeze pretty soon after the temperatures plummeted, but water’s propensity for retaining
heat means that this will take quite a long time. For sure, the rivers, lakes, and ponds would
freeze in a matter of weeks. It’s a different story for the oceans, though. Within a few months of the sun going out,
they will be covered in a layer of ice, but this insulation will further contain the heat
within the water beneath it, and it will take at least a thousand years to fully solidify. This will make it possible for organisms to
survive in the deepest and warmest parts of the ocean. Like I mentioned before, Earth will begin
to resemble distant worlds and moons such as Europa, that are believed to have large
bodies of water beneath their icy crust. Underground water deposits will also take
longer before they completely freeze. Some, like hot springs, are kept warm by volcanic
processes, and these would continue to freely flow for as long as the heat from the earth’s
core was able to reach them. This could also lead to the build-up of pressure
beneath frozen water on the surface, and result in massive geysers where the water breaks
through. Similar effects have been seen elsewhere in
the solar system, and this would contribute to further layers of ice being formed on the
surface. 1. The Atmosphere Would Freeze Once the oceans have fully frozen, and temperatures
on earth have plummeted to around -400 degrees Fahrenheit, the planet will be like virtually
any other piece of rock that hurls through the depths of space. The one thing that would be distinguish it
from other planets is its atmosphere, but even this will go out in about 1,000 years. Rather than simply venting into outer space,
the lowering temperatures will cause the atmosphere to freeze. Water molecules would have already long been
gone by the time this happens, but the rest is mainly made up of Nitrogen, which has a
freezing point of -346 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s likely that most of the atmosphere
would turn to snow, and fall to the ground- covering the earth in a thick blanket, which
would be similar in colour to the snow we see on mountains today. There would, however, no longer be oxygen
in the environment, so any life that had miraculously managed to survive until this point would
quickly die out, with nowhere left to seek refuge. In total there’s about 5000 trillion metric
tons of atmosphere around the planet. Assuming the snow it formed was of the same
thickness and density of water snow, it would cover the entire earth with a snowdrift that
was more than 300 feet deep. This would remain in place, undisturbed by
weather effects because there’s no longer an atmosphere, but become exposed to the radiation
and collisions that our atmosphere protects us from. The planet would soon be riddled with craters
from the impacts of meteors. All in all, Earth would be just another frozen
ball hurling through space at 67,000 miles per hour. Maybe it would get pulled into orbit by another
star, or even a black hole. Whatever the case, it would be quite the adventure! Thanks for watching! Remember to subscribe and see you soon! Byeeee
