Thread: What if the sun died?

What if the sun died?
How long could life on earth survive without the sun?
When will we run out of food?
Could the core of the earth temporarily replace the sun since its inner core's temperature is 6,000C (nearly as hot as the sun's surface)?
What will happen to our solar system?
When will we run out of oxygen? (no plants maintaining balance)

Interesting questions. I will be honest with you: I do not know the answers and my potential speculations are not worth mentioning.

However, given the fact that my input should contribute something to this thread,
I give you a link to a relevant video from Vsauce: What If The Sun Disappeared? - YouTube

How long could life on earth survive without the sun?

Some microbial life, existing underground, could survive for hundreds of millions of years. Also, more complex life forms around submarine vents (black smokers) should be sustainable for similar time periods.

When will we run out of food?

There are only a few days of food available to the bulk of the population of the planet. The rest is in storage, preparation or transit.

Could the core of the earth temporarily replace the sun since its inner core's temperature is 6,000C (nearly as hot as the sun's surface)?

The total heat output from the core and mantle reaching the surface in a year would be enough to melt a thin layer of ice less than 1cm thick. A couple of hours of sunlight would do the same thing. The core would not provide a viable alternative.

What will happen to our solar system?

The planets would keep orbiting much as before. The disappearance of the solar wind would doubtless have effects on planetary atmospheres, but I'm not sure how large these would be.

When will we run out of oxygen? (no plants maintaining balance)

Since most of the users of oxygen will die off in the cold that quickly overwhelms the planet, it will take years, possibly centuries for oxygen levels to fall to trace amounts through inorganic reactions.

The good news is that there is no conceivable mechanism by which the sun would just die.

A couple of articles on this subject:
Q & A: How long would we have if the Sun went out? – Starts With A Bang
Curious About Astronomy: How do we know that nuclear fusion is still going on in the Sun?
Q: If fusion in the Sun suddenly stopped, what would happen? | Ask a Mathematician / Ask a Physicist

So, it wouldn't mean instant death. We might even have time to build starships and escape...

Originally Posted by John Galt

How long could life on earth survive without the sun?

Some microbial life, existing underground, could survive for hundreds of millions of years. Also, more complex life forms around submarine vents (black smokers) should be sustainable for similar time periods.

When will we run out of food?

There are only a few days of food available to the bulk of the population of the planet. The rest is in storage, preparation or transit.

Could the core of the earth temporarily replace the sun since its inner core's temperature is 6,000C (nearly as hot as the sun's surface)?

The total heat output from the core and mantle reaching the surface in a year would be enough to melt a thin layer of ice less than 1cm thick. A couple of hours of sunlight would do the same thing. The core would not provide a viable alternative.

What will happen to our solar system?

The planets would keep orbiting much as before. The disappearance of the solar wind would doubtless have effects on planetary atmospheres, but I'm not sure how large these would be.

When will we run out of oxygen? (no plants maintaining balance)

Since most of the users of oxygen will die off in the cold that quickly overwhelms the planet, it will take years, possibly centuries for oxygen levels to fall to trace amounts through inorganic reactions.

The good news is that there is no conceivable mechanism by which the sun would just die.

WOW SIR GALT!! Great information!

can we not evolve quickly to live in that altered environment!

Originally Posted by sir ir r aj

can we not evolve quickly to live in that altered environment!

The majority of us would have life spans measured in days, or at most weeks. If we had advance warning then it might be possible to provide a protected environment for a small selection of humanity - perhaps as many as 100,000, or even one million. For the rest, and for the bald eagles and the sea urchins and rose bushes it would be the end. As I am related to rose bushes, though distantly, it would make me quite sad.

can we not live near core , when sun has died? just dig a tunnel
@Areej who is she in your avatar?

Originally Posted by sir ir r aj

can we not live near core , when sun has died? just dig a tunnel

I wouldn't worry about it. It isn't going to happen.

Or, you can invent equally implausible technology to solve the problem: we could hang small fusion reactors in the sky to provide artificial sunlight and heat.

Or move the entire planet to another star.

Originally Posted by Strange

Originally Posted by sir ir r aj

can we not live near core , when sun has died? just dig a tunnel

I wouldn't worry about it. It isn't going to happen.

Or, you can invent equally implausible technology to solve the problem: we could hang small fusion reactors in the sky to provide artificial sunlight and heat.

Or move the entire planet to another star.

Or simply stop sun from expanding/dying.

I doubt we'd survive on Earth past the Red Giant phase of the sun, if we managed to survive long enough to see it. If we do survive long enough, I imagine we'll have grown up a bit and left home in search of an apartment in another arm of the galaxy or something =)

The Ray Ban company would definitely go out of business.

MacGyver will fix it for us. He always does. Probably using some string, a couple of bits of wood and a large spring.

The earth would continue to move in a straight line out of the solar system and might end up orbiting another star after thousands of years. And we can definitely dig a tunnel, we'd probably survive untill we run out of food or even die of boredom lol. That is me sir ir r aj.

Originally Posted by sir ir r aj

can we not live near core , when sun has died? just dig a tunnel
@Areej who is she in your avatar?

Are you going to buy a new spade?

If the Sun died would it want to be cremated?

I think flaming is against the forum rules.

It is currently being cremated

Originally Posted by Areej

It is currently being cremated

then it will be burried.

Originally Posted by Areej

It is currently being cremated

Everyone is speculating but no one knows what would happen, at least I do not.

Originally Posted by Stargate

Everyone is speculating but no one knows what would happen, at least I do not.

Hey! Some people have posted information from scientists who have provided some analysis and therefore reasonably factual answers. I think "no one knows" is a rather poor comment.

Originally Posted by John Galt

Originally Posted by sir ir r aj

can we not evolve quickly to live in that altered environment!

The majority of us would have life spans measured in days, or at most weeks. If we had advance warning then it might be possible to provide a protected environment for a small selection of humanity - perhaps as many as 100,000, or even one million. For the rest, and for the bald eagles and the sea urchins and rose bushes it would be the end. As I am related to rose bushes, though distantly, it would make me quite sad.

You can be rather "thorny*!!! *ducking*

If the sun were dead, our earth will be short of oxygen and every creature dooms to be dead, too.