What If The Sun Was To Go Out?

MadSci Network ^ | February 24, 1997 | Joseph Spitale, Grad student Planetary Science/Applied Math, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

[Larry Lucido]

"At that point the core, which will be mostly helium at that point,"

Great, so not only do we get fried, but we'll be talking in really high voices, too.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

From my years in Wisconsin I still know how to operate a snowthrower - so, I reckon I'll be OK.

[RightWhale]

Dunno. The press is notoriously lax about followup of science questions.

[The Duke]

I'm not exactly sure what would happen if the sun went out, but I'm pretty darned certain it would somehow be Bush's fault.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

What If The Sun Was To Go Out?

We'd all don red dresses and curly red wigs and start singing our lungs out.

[Larry Lucido]

"A perpetual pendulum of swinging prisoners..."

You gotta admit, it would be one hell of a bunjee ride. So long as you don't meet someone midway coming from the opposite side.

Someone else thought of selling "hole fares" across the planet, since the trip would only be 18 minutes or so.

[Pete'sWife]

"Women and Minorities Hardest Hit"

[raybbr]

While they're at it: "What happens if it starts raining green M&Ms tomorrow?"

A lot of people are going to get very fat.

[LtKerst]

We would all look like "Golem" in Lord of the Rings!!!!

[clyde asbury]

What If The Sun Was To Go Out? isn't an urgent question. But it's also not as simple as some here are saying. Astronomy 101 says red giant earth sizzle, end of story.

[Ahem.]

I wonder if these experts can tell us the solution to the solar neutrino problem.

[Dog Gone]

As I recall, they learned to keep them all in one big group instead of letting them continue doing head-on collisions.

It was kind of a neat concept as long as you ignored all the practical considerations.

[Calvin Locke]

Iceland.?

Hmmm, Iceland or Hawaii? Iceland or Hawaii?...

Or, Wyoming, among other, closer, places.

[SamAdams76]

Like my question: What if you cored the earth from pole to pole, then jumped in the hole - what would happen?

I've thought of that too. I think you would be in a perpetual fall. As you passed the core, your rate of fall would begin to decrease as you would then be "falling up". You should come to a complete and brief stop just under the surface on the other side of the earth and then you'd begin to fall down again, reversing the process endlessly.

[jedi150]

The short answer to your question is that no one knows the answer

Evidently this author has not gotten word from the DNC and the residents in the "Blue" portions of this country. I have it from sources that the Sun went out Nov. 2nd 2004?

[carlr]

What happens if it starts raining green M&Ms tomorrow

If what I have heard from grade school is true there will be a population explosion.

[Lockbar]

This would be everyman in a short period of time:

[TexasGreg]

My descendants are going to be out on Europa by the time that happens. Soaking up some pleasant (albeit red) summertime rays.

Probably a heck of a lot further out than that. In another 4 billion, or so, years we'll probably be populating a large percentage of the galaxy. By that time one star going through it's death throws won't kill us off. Of course ... by that time we might find a way to rejuvenate good ol' Sol and keep him burning for a heck of a lot longer.

On the other hand, by that time we probably won't care too much about physical stars and planets. We'll have engineered ourselves way beyond that stage of existence LONG before then.

Heck, this thread needs an Art Bell Ping.

[struggle]

>>What If The Sun Was To Go Out?

It would be Bushes fault.

[hunter112]

You should come to a complete and brief stop just under the surface on the other side of the earth and then you'd begin to fall down again, reversing the process endlessly.

Isn't that ignoring air resistance in the tunnel? I would think it would slow you down so that some of the energy caused by the first fall in would have been dissipated by friction, so you'd be like a pendulum that had no mechanism to keep it going, and each swing through the center would be shorter and shorter, till you stopped in the middle.

Of course, you'd burn up there if they didn't figure out the heat problem. Or, on your first plunge into the tunnel, you'd crash into the others whose pendulum had stopped. Science fiction speculation sure is fun, isn't it? I used to have all kinds of "intellectual discussions" with it back in high school, when my geeky buddies and I got together outside of electronics class!

[Drew68]

You should come to a complete and brief stop just under the surface on the other side of the earth and then you'd begin to fall down again, reversing the process endlessly.

After donning your special suit to allow you to withstand the temperatures, pressure, etc., you would gradually slow down as you neared the center of the earth and then stop completely and "float" in the core as the mass of the earth/gravity would be pulling you somewhat equally from all directions.