[SamAdams76]

I am not a grad student of Planetary Science like the author, but it is my uneducated opinion that there is no need to consult a biologist on this. If the sun was to go out, we would all be doomed in short order.

[pepperdog]

I seem to remember that the sun will, at some point, go out. But before that happens it will expand and we'll all become crispy critters. I think I'll just not worry about it, I'm going to hop back over to the thread where they are worrying about the state of Alabama having "Heart of Dixie" on their car license tags!

[Political Junkie Too]

What If The Sun Was To Go Out?

Would that be the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinal or the Chicago Sun-Times? Frankly, I could care less if either were to go out of business.

-PJ

[Ditter]

Why would someone even think of this must less write a paper on it? I've got the answer in 2 words "We're DOOMED".

[southernnorthcarolina]

What would happen if I asked a theoretical question?

[Jim Noble]

What If The Sun Was To Go Out?

The Democrats would blame Bush.

Seriesly-it would be bad...

[1rudeboy]

We'd get a couple weeks of truly awesome skiing.

[ClearBlueSky]

I'm pretty sure it would expand and go supernova before it collapsed and ' went out'. The first event would effectively roast most of the solar system, and the second would not have any witnesses.

Seriousness aside- the sun going out would probably be the ONLY way we'd get a REAL winter, and a white Christmas, in New Orleans.
I'd settle for it being moved just a bit farther out, but then nuclear winter sounds like a good thing to me! LOL

[jrfaug06]

I keep a flashlight handy just in case it does go out.

John

[longshadow]

Of course, it's possible that technology would allow a very small population of humans to survive, ....

Doctor Strangelove: "Mein Furher, er, I mean Mr. President, I should think we could use some of our deepest mineshafts for living space as a means of preserving our civilization... "

General "Buck" Turgidson: "Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?"

Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious...service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.

Ambassador de Sadesky: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.

[FreedomCalls]

The Sun will not just wink out like a candle burning out, the nature of the fusion reaction fueling it and its position on the HR diagram means that it will first expand to a Red Giant engulfing the Earth as it expands out to the the Earth's orbit, then it will explode in a nova, then contract back down into a brown dwarf, then die out. There's no way any life on earth can survive that. Heck, there's no way earth itself can survive that. Earth will become a part of the Sun in the Red Giant stage.

[MitchellC]

What If The Sun Was To Go Out?

Women, minorities to be hit hardest.

[shellshocked]

Don't know what would happen, but I am sure women and minorities would be hurt the worst.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

but there may be organisms which could survive indefinitely, either by freezing before they starve, or because they don't depend on solar energy at all.

This is bogus logic. The Earth itself depends on the Sun's gravity to a degree to initiate the geothermal activity within its core. Without it, no organism at all would survive. Everything on Earth depends on solar energy of one type or another. Earth would become a lifeless rock, rapidly moving away from its former position towards interstellar space.

That's if it were simply to snuff out, which is unlikely. More than likely, it would swell to a thousand times its normal size and fry the Earth to a cinder first before collapsing and starting up the deep freeze.

[broadsword]

What if the sun WERE to go out. WERE to go out. (subjunctive mood, my friend)

At any rate, I would not worry about it if I were you, because if it WERE to go out, you would stop worrying about everything, and in short order.

[southernnorthcarolina]

I remember the old story about a lecture by a well-known astronomer. He took questions after his presentation.

Woman in audience: "Did you say the Earth is likely to be destroyed in twenty million years?"

Astronomer: "No, ma'am. I said twenty billion years."

Woman [obviously relieved]: "Oh, thank God."

[TASMANIANRED]

This physicist is beating his brains out thinking wrongly.

No sun, no photosynthesis.

No photosynthesis, no oxygen.

No oxygen, no life of oxygen breathing animals.

All green plants die, all animal life dies.

Dead planet other than anaerobic bacteria.fungi, mycoplasms and the methane creatures in volcanic vents in the ocean.

The carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen sulfite from decomposition just might kill off the survivors.

If science is to be believed in it's current model. An asteroid essentially did the same thing and killed off the dinosaur and the fern earth that existed.

The only survivors were tiny mammals that required much less O2 to survive. But then there wasn't an absolute absence of light for photosynthesis, just a relative absence. Big lung-ers died. It would happen fairly quickly also. Death would occur before cooling had any impact.

[jpl]

The good news is that a comet or large asteroid will likely wipe out most of the life on earth well before the sun goes out.

[KoRn]

Earth with no sun.

Vacation in Miami, back-lit by the glowing gas they pump into the air for light.

[Old Professer]

If one were to listen carefully from just a bit afar, one would hear a big sigh as Gaia finally goes back to rest.

[Mr Rogers]

I would have to go back to using a battery powered watch instead of my solar powered one.