If the sun were to suddenly disappear...

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Descartes
Also, the concept of night only exists relative to day, so technically it's not night... just dark.

Many definitions of night would still be valid. In fact #6 says darkness is one definition of night.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: gigapet

Originally posted by: Kev

Originally posted by: gigapet
it would be night time indefinitely.

How did you reach this conclusion!?!?!?!?!??

i figured it out in kindergarten. When the sun isnt shining on the earth its night time. Sun stops shining on earth altogether then its night time indefinitely. not rocket science.

That's silly. The sun shines on the earth day or night; the only difference is the amount of exposure. Also, the concept of night only exists relative to day, so technically it's not night... just dark.

:roll: semantics, anyone? it is clear what he intended to say in his post.

 

[dullard]

Technically we'd get the ~8 mins. But here is my question: who cares since we wouldn't know the sun disappeared until ~8 mins after it did? IE we'd still get no warning.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: gigapet

Originally posted by: Kev

Originally posted by: gigapet
it would be night time indefinitely.

How did you reach this conclusion!?!?!?!?!??

i figured it out in kindergarten. When the sun isnt shining on the earth its night time. Sun stops shining on earth altogether then its night time indefinitely. not rocket science.

That's silly. The sun shines on the earth day or night; the only difference is the amount of exposure. Also, the concept of night only exists relative to day, so technically it's not night... just dark.

:roll: semantics, anyone? it is clear what he intended to say in his post.

Hey thanks MrDudeMan.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Descartes
Also, the concept of night only exists relative to day, so technically it's not night... just dark.

Many definitions of night would still be valid. In fact #6 says darkness is one definition of night.

Eh, the descriptions are still more about the absence of something, but it is semantics as MrDudeMan pointed out, so I shouldn't have brought it up.

:thumbsup:

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: IdioticBuffoon
Assuming it is daytime and sunny and ignoring the obvious gravitational disturbances if the sun were to actually disappear...

What will we see in the sky here on earth?

I mean how long are we going to see the light for?

I'll add a poll soon.

We will have normal light activity for another 8 min or so.

Then after that, the Earth will get really cold and eventually freeze over.

We will probably see 24/7 night after the 8 mins.

 

[astrosfan90]

Originally posted by: dullard
Technically we'd get the ~8 mins. But here is my question: who cares since we wouldn't know the sun disappeared until ~8 mins after it did? IE we'd still get no warning.

Would we though? I'm an idiot when it comes to physics, but how does gravitational pull work? Would we immediately drop out of orbit? Would that be noticeable?

 

[baoytl]

Originally posted by: astrosfan90

Originally posted by: dullard
Technically we'd get the ~8 mins. But here is my question: who cares since we wouldn't know the sun disappeared until ~8 mins after it did? IE we'd still get no warning.

Would we though? I'm an idiot when it comes to physics, but how does gravitational pull work? Would we immediately drop out of orbit? Would that be noticeable?

Gravity travels at the speed of light. So the instant the light stops reaching the earth, we'll spin off into space.

 

[Lorax]

no sun = no plant life = collapse of food chain

that is if we don't freeze first.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: astrosfan90

Originally posted by: dullard
Technically we'd get the ~8 mins. But here is my question: who cares since we wouldn't know the sun disappeared until ~8 mins after it did? IE we'd still get no warning.

Would we though? I'm an idiot when it comes to physics, but how does gravitational pull work? Would we immediately drop out of orbit? Would that be noticeable?

The force of gravity is faster than the speed of light. We would stop orbiting and would continue traveling per inertia in whatever direction we were heading in at the time.

Since we would be moving away from the source of light from the sun, I think some sensitive tools could detect the drop in total sunlight hitting us - I'm sure we could detect the doppler shift as well. Perhaps visually the sun would look a little more orange during those 8 minutes.

The chances of Earth hitting anything substantial on its way out of the solar system is next to none. Everything in the solar system would also be traveling outwards, and relatively farther away from us. We might pass through a slower moving asteroid field though.

Our only hope of survival would be to permanently move underground as the Earth's core is still generating heat. We would want to supplement that with as many nuclear reactors as possible. We could setup many nuclear reactors along the ocean's floor just for the sake of generating heat, which would allow many bacteria and smaller organisms to survive which would supply the food chain. The upper layers of the oceans will freeze over. Our only source of food will come from the ocean as it will be nearly impossible to supply an entire population with underground agriculture and livestock.

I'm wondering if there is anything we could do with the moon to help our survival. Maybe plaster the whole thing with a nuclear grid and beam energy via microwaves down to above ground receivers.

 

[LeadMagnet]

even more interesting is - what would happen if the sun instantly became a blackhole (without the supernova or red giant phase) and it's mass didn't change.

 

[PlatinumGold]

if the sun disappeared instantly, i don't think the 8 minutes is going to mean much.

 

[ViviTheMage]

say the sun did just disappear, i think it takes about 8 seconds for us to know..thats why when you look at the sun its the past!

 

[IdioticBuffoon]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: astrosfan90

Originally posted by: dullard
Technically we'd get the ~8 mins. But here is my question: who cares since we wouldn't know the sun disappeared until ~8 mins after it did? IE we'd still get no warning.

Would we though? I'm an idiot when it comes to physics, but how does gravitational pull work? Would we immediately drop out of orbit? Would that be noticeable?

The force of gravity is faster than the speed of light. We would stop orbiting and would continue traveling per inertia in whatever direction we were heading in at the time.

Since we would be moving away from the source of light from the sun, I think some sensitive tools could detect the drop in total sunlight hitting us - I'm sure we could detect the doppler shift as well. Perhaps visually the sun would look a little more orange during those 8 minutes.

The chances of Earth hitting anything substantial on its way out of the solar system is next to none. Everything in the solar system would also be traveling outwards, and relatively farther away from us. We might pass through a slower moving asteroid field though.

Our only hope of survival would be to permanently move underground as the Earth's core is still generating heat. We would want to supplement that with as many nuclear reactors as possible. We could setup many nuclear reactors along the ocean's floor just for the sake of generating heat, which would allow many bacteria and smaller organisms to survive which would supply the food chain. The upper layers of the oceans will freeze over. Our only source of food will come from the ocean as it will be nearly impossible to supply an entire population with underground agriculture and livestock.

I'm wondering if there is anything we could do with the moon to help our survival. Maybe plaster the whole thing with a nuclear grid and beam energy via microwaves down to above ground receivers.

Oooookayyyyy 🙂

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
The force of gravity is faster than the speed of light.

I'm certainly no physics expert, but I thought it travelled at the speed of light. So I did a quick google search:
Yes, at speed of light.

Newtonian physics assumes gravity is instantaneous, but general relativity says it is the speed of light.

Is there anything new that contradicts what I've heard and those websites?

 

[cKGunslinger]

The plane would take off, noob. :roll:

 

[Greenman]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: astrosfan90

Originally posted by: dullard
Technically we'd get the ~8 mins. But here is my question: who cares since we wouldn't know the sun disappeared until ~8 mins after it did? IE we'd still get no warning.

Would we though? I'm an idiot when it comes to physics, but how does gravitational pull work? Would we immediately drop out of orbit? Would that be noticeable?

The force of gravity is faster than the speed of light. We would stop orbiting and would continue traveling per inertia in whatever direction we were heading in at the time.
.

Gravity is faster than light? When did this major breakthrough occur, and could you please provide links?

 

[Martin]

A more interesting question would be: how long would it take the earth to cool down to the point where we start freezing and dying.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Martin
A more interesting question would be: how long would it take the earth to cool down to the point where we start freezing and dying.

I'd say a week at the most. The temperature would start to drop immediately (well, 8 minutes later it would)

 

[LeadMagnet]

Originally posted by: Martin
A more interesting question would be: how long would it take the earth to cool down to the point where we start freezing and dying.

Bingo!!!! I'd guess a week or two - the key would be radiational cooling and thermalmass.

 

[crownjules]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: SagaLore
The force of gravity is faster than the speed of light.

I'm certainly no physics expert, but I thought it travelled at the speed of light. So I did a quick google search:
Yes, at speed of light.

Newtonian physics assumes gravity is instantaneous, but general relativity says it is the speed of light.

Is there anything new that contradicts what I've heard and those websites?

Blackholes = the ultimate form of gravity. Light does not escape blackholes.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: astrosfan90

Originally posted by: dullard
Technically we'd get the ~8 mins. But here is my question: who cares since we wouldn't know the sun disappeared until ~8 mins after it did? IE we'd still get no warning.

Would we though? I'm an idiot when it comes to physics, but how does gravitational pull work? Would we immediately drop out of orbit? Would that be noticeable?

The force of gravity is faster than the speed of light. We would stop orbiting and would continue traveling per inertia in whatever direction we were heading in at the time.

Since we would be moving away from the source of light from the sun, I think some sensitive tools could detect the drop in total sunlight hitting us - I'm sure we could detect the doppler shift as well. Perhaps visually the sun would look a little more orange during those 8 minutes.

The chances of Earth hitting anything substantial on its way out of the solar system is next to none. Everything in the solar system would also be traveling outwards, and relatively farther away from us. We might pass through a slower moving asteroid field though.

Our only hope of survival would be to permanently move underground as the Earth's core is still generating heat. We would want to supplement that with as many nuclear reactors as possible. We could setup many nuclear reactors along the ocean's floor just for the sake of generating heat, which would allow many bacteria and smaller organisms to survive which would supply the food chain. The upper layers of the oceans will freeze over. Our only source of food will come from the ocean as it will be nearly impossible to supply an entire population with underground agriculture and livestock.

I'm wondering if there is anything we could do with the moon to help our survival. Maybe plaster the whole thing with a nuclear grid and beam energy via microwaves down to above ground receivers.

Uh, your entire premise is wrong. AFAIK, gravity has been demonstrated to propogate at the speed of light.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: crownjules

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: SagaLore
The force of gravity is faster than the speed of light.

I'm certainly no physics expert, but I thought it travelled at the speed of light. So I did a quick google search:
Yes, at speed of light.

Newtonian physics assumes gravity is instantaneous, but general relativity says it is the speed of light.

Is there anything new that contradicts what I've heard and those websites?

Blackholes = the ultimate form of gravity. Light does not escape blackholes.

So? That has nothing to do with the SPEED of light.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
even more interesting is - what would happen if the sun instantly became a blackhole (without the supernova or red giant phase) and it's mass didn't change.

If it's mass didn't change, then it would be exactly the same scenario as this. We'd die by freezing to death.

 

[Axoliien]

Depends on cloud cover, but you know that in the desert the temperatures fluctuate extremely rapidly, from searing to freezing in hours once the sun sets. If I remember correctly from grammar school, the oceans would hold heat longer than the solid earth, but the heat would radiate directly away from the earth with the entire surface area of the earth.

I'd suggest we just turn on the heater at work, they keep it a toasty 100 in here anyways...