If the sun disappeared, for eight-and-a-half minutes we’d have no idea that the sun had gone. We’d still see it – lingering, like a ghost – in the sky above Earth’s day side. As soon as the last of the sun’s light reached us – eight-and-a-half minutes after the sun itself disappeared – the sun would blink out and night would fall over the entire Earth.
Not until that instant would Earth sail off in a straight line into space. Einstein’s special theory of relativity tells us that no signal in the universe – not even the tug of gravity – can travel faster than the speed of light – about 300,000 kilometers, or 186,000 miles, per second. Though free from the sun’s gravity, we’d be traveling at the same speed as before – about 18 miles, or 30 kilometers per second. So Earth would be traveling at the same speed as always into eternal night.
If you were on Earth’s night side when the sun disappeared, you might not notice anything … at first. But then the night sky would begin to change. For example, if there were a full moon – which shines with reflected sunlight – its light would disappear a few seconds after the sun’s light blinked out. Over the course of several hours, the planets would wink out one by one, as they reflected the last of the sun’s light to us.
That is the sugar-coated version
Dick, ha! That’s true.
We wouldn’t see that, we’d have frozen to death.
not entirely true earth would retain a good deal of it’s heat for several hours and even after that we heat our houses and offices artificially
Awesome
mmm i dont really belieeve that thereoy cuase yuu dont actually no wot would happen 8(
It is an interesting subject about the sun and what would happen if it disappeared. I don’t want to sound too religious, but the bible does describe something that will happen to the sun.
Matthew 24:
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
I thought about this for a while, the sun is the centre of our solar system and all the stars and planets rotate around it. If the sun did disappear what would happen to our solar system? It is obvious that the moon won’t give it’s light and it’s pretty plausable that all the stars and planets in our solar system will fall out of the natural rotation.
Besides this verse being from the bible, it’s is a theory that is plausable.
Hello Ben,
The Bible verse you mention sounds like a solar eclipse. The sun is darkened. The moon does not give its light. The heavens are “shaken” – in other words, stars appear during the day.
Solar eclipses are natural – and brief – phenomena that occur when the moon, in its orbit around Earth, passes directly in front of the sun. The longest one lasts about 7 minutes, as I recall. Then the moon – which is always moving in orbit – moves on and the sun re-appears.
Deborah
without the sun we would freeze to death.Within a week, the average global surface temperature would drop below 0°F. In a year, it would dip to –100°. The top layers of the oceans would freeze over, but in an apocalyptic irony, that ice would insulate the deep water below and prevent the oceans from freezing solid for hundreds of thousands of years. Millions of years after that, our planet would reach a stable –400°, the temperature at which the heat radiating from the planet’s core would equal the heat that the Earth radiates into space
don’t you see the amazing implications about gravity. The effect of gravity would remain even with sun’s disappearance. what is gravity?
some say that space is empty .how can it be empty when it is full of gravity capable of keeping the earth in orbit. there is much more energy besides solar to be used. look at tesla’s radiant energy
Hmm interesting
Yes it’s true that if the Sun disappeared, it would take around 8,5 minute before it all went dark, but what about gravity, I know it’s said that nothing goes faster than light, but what stops gravity from having an instant affect?
How can you prove that gravity is not instant?
Maybe the reason that you cant detect Gravitons is because gravity is instant force?..
In this scenario, at the event horizon of a black hole the gravity is pulling light to such a degree that the (always traveling at the speed of light,) light, cannot escape. Logic tells me that under the event horizon the pull of gravity is even stronger. Faster? I am not mentally equipped to refute Einstein’s general relativity, but that has always bugged me. If it is massless what handle does gravity grip?
Wrong, the effect would be instantaneous. Why? Well consider that if the effect of gravity had a lag equal to the speed of light, then the grav effect on Neptune would be 40 hours out of sync and there’s be generation of ‘torque’ due to the angular momentum.
You really think each planet would maintain an orbit around the central body if the effects were delayed differently on each planet given the time it takes light to propagate?
So no torque, no delay.
hello everyone, my 9 year old daughter is having a academic fair in school about this same topic. “What will earth be like with no sunlight”. Now I was reading over all of your comments and I would like to know if any of you have any ideas on a good demonstration for her project. When it comes to science I am clueless. Please help me. Thank you..