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If the sun stopped producing energy how long would we live?
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I'm approximating here...
The sun is about 100 times the diameter, and the white dwarf is about 1/3 the diameter of the sun. You were drawing a parallel between the time a white dwarf maintains its relative luminosity magnitude to that of our earth; this would be roughly analogous to saying that a snowball the size of the earth will melt like a snowball the size of my fist. Granted, the thermal properties are the same, but only so relative to the mass. Such a comparison in any regard was, in my opinion, pointless. If you were simply stating how heat transfer works, then ok, but we're referring to the relative time required for thermal equilibrium here.
Anyway, this is getting frustrating. If you wish to further our discussion with more ad hominem please PM me instead
:beer:😀
i'm not saying we would continue to thrive for thousands of years more (like a white dwarf's heat) but we wouldnt just blink out of existence in 3 seconds like you said in your first post. i'd give the majority of human life on earth... a week. i have no idea how much or little heat transfers through the crust of the earth, but i pretty much know there's nowhere near enough to sustain life on the surface of the earth. maybe if we burrowed about 50 miles, we might stand a better chance.
We got Walleye, who is clearly not as informed on this topic as Descartes, pulling personal attacks in statements that don't even support any opinion or theory.
Excellent tactic.
I'm sure it works well in high school.
zephyrprime
Diamond Member
About white dwarfs, I'm not sure that they're not doing anything to produce a small amount of heat. A star remnant is probably radioactive up the wazoo since it was carrying on nuclear fusion for so long. So a slow radioactive decay should be possible. Also, isn't it possible that there's still a little bit of fusion going on in the core?
The earth would not cool and precipitate the atmosphere in mere seconds. Without trying to remember my thermo dynamics, the specific heat and transfer rates of the atmosphere I would say we would have at least a week before the atmosphere started precipitating, and probably much longer. If humanity can survive in space we could survive on a dead planet. The real question would be would there be enough time to get enough people into space worthy shelters with the equipment to survive the long haul in time to save the species.
We can engineer an environment to survive, that is without a doubt, it would simply be a question of the time necessary to construct that environment. Of course this is all kinda mute because the sun would die rather violently and vaporize us and the planet in the process.
We can engineer an environment to survive, that is without a doubt, it would simply be a question of the time necessary to construct that environment. Of course this is all kinda mute because the sun would die rather violently and vaporize us and the planet in the process.
assemblage
Senior member
We should make all those middle eastern people pedal stationary bikes attached to power generators.
These discusssions are synonymous to "Pinto" AKA Larry in Animal House getting stoned for the first time and wrestling with the concept of us all being atoms in a giant's fingernail 😛 this sums it up
sandorski
No Lifer
Just 5-6 ft deep the Earth maintains a constant temperature of some 5xf. AFAIK that heat comes from the Earth's core(correct me if I'm wrong), if so, then survival maybe much more likely than some may think. If not, we won't be dead instantly, but only a select few would have a chance of surviving for any length of time.
First off I have not read every post in this thread, so perhaps this has been said. Sorry if that is so.
Consider that every night the surface of the earth is exposed to deep space. Further the polar regions are exposed to deep space for extended periods of time and get no where near absolute zero. So if the sun were to stop producing energy the earth would not instantly freeze. The core of the earth is quite hot so the the earth would stay warm for probable centruies after the sun went out. How long it could maintain life as we know it is a different issue. We rely on the sun for our food, what plant life was on hand at the time the sun died would be the last that could exist.
There would be considerable stores of food and fuel so for people who had acess (or control) of these would do pretty well. Using the artic regions as an example you can bet that within a few weeks the temperatures would be well below zero (F) so we would loose all free water, all plant life would be dead and it would, of course, be pitch black out side.
Our civilization could not last but a matter of weeks, the power grid and infrastructure would collapase and centralize control would vanish. It would soon be to cold to use most fuels so by 2-3 months few would remain.
I do not see how life could last more then 6 months.
Consider that every night the surface of the earth is exposed to deep space. Further the polar regions are exposed to deep space for extended periods of time and get no where near absolute zero. So if the sun were to stop producing energy the earth would not instantly freeze. The core of the earth is quite hot so the the earth would stay warm for probable centruies after the sun went out. How long it could maintain life as we know it is a different issue. We rely on the sun for our food, what plant life was on hand at the time the sun died would be the last that could exist.
There would be considerable stores of food and fuel so for people who had acess (or control) of these would do pretty well. Using the artic regions as an example you can bet that within a few weeks the temperatures would be well below zero (F) so we would loose all free water, all plant life would be dead and it would, of course, be pitch black out side.
Our civilization could not last but a matter of weeks, the power grid and infrastructure would collapase and centralize control would vanish. It would soon be to cold to use most fuels so by 2-3 months few would remain.
I do not see how life could last more then 6 months.
ed21x
Diamond Member
Bullsh!t
The sun is NOT a white dwarf star and thus would not collapse upon itself after radiating all its energy. Also, the 2nd law of thermodynamics is a general rule that applies conceptually but doesn't take into account several factors in physics. For starters, there will have to be a coefficient of heat transfer out of the atmosphere multiplied by the distance between the surface of the earth and the outside of the atmosphere, multiplied and surface area of the earth. Take that into account, add into the fact that >70% of the earth is water, and that water is fairly effective in retaining heat. However, i like how you stuck in the words "cosmic microwave background" despite the fact that microwaves really only radiate from stars.
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