I agree with everything, but #3. I too considered it, but then realized that the suns mass would still exist(assuming it didn't go nova), it just wouldn't produce energy.
Originally posted by: SunnyD
You folks are silly.
#1 - Yes, the earth would eventually turn into a deeply frozen wasteland on the surface after the sun would "hypothetically" fizzle out. However, the timeframe would be far greater than the average 8 minutes (1 AU) that most are suggesting. I have no real or provable estimated timeframe, but it would be a significant amount of time before the earth's ambient heating radiated away completely. After all, approximately half of the world is not being exposed to the warming effects of the sun as is at any given time, and with that our temperature swings are usually within 10 to 20 degrees centigrade anyway. Radiational cooling I would venture to guess would take the better part of a month or so for all ambient surface heat to be radiated away.
#2 - The earth and any most planet for that matter generates heat internally at it's core due to gravatational compression of the materials within it (in earth's case, nickle and iron, constantly in a moulten form) With no ambient heating from the sun, the planet theorhetically should freeze through the core of the planet as well, but we're talking probably a magnitude of decades or centuries before that breakeven happens. This core heat obviously isn't enough to sustain life on the surface of the planet (re: ice ages), but because it does extend outward in the form of thermal vents, volcanoes, etc, my guess is probably life around the mid-Atlantic ridge and possibly the Ring of Fire (pacific rim) at the bottom of the oceans would continue for some time.
#3 - Without the sun - again, if it just fizzled out - we'd have two immediate problems to worry about. Photosynthesis would cease, meaning no vegitation, and no oxygen production. We'd sufficate rather rapidly (probably within a month or so). Second probably would be gravity. Without the sun as the gravitational center of our solarsystem (okay, one of 2 focii), we'd have two problems. Firstly, the oceans would immediately go nuts without the solar tides to counter the lunar tides - we'd have some monster surfing going on (probably 50 to 100 foot tides easily). Secondly, the earth would no longer have an orbit, meaning that probably rather quickly the earth would be speeding through asteroid debris fields which are also thrown out of orbit without a gravitational focus. Presuming one of the other planets doesn't happen to hit us first.
My guess would be humanity would be sustainable for a month or two at most under these circumstances. But honestly, if that were the case, I'd grab a :beer: and a chick on an hourly basis and say "screw me baby, the worlds about to end."
Originally posted by: rbloedow
A day or two. The All of the energy that is left would escape through radiatonal cooling and we'd turn into a giant ice block.
Originally posted by: Xenon
PS. One thing to remember about the nuclear plants around the world. They need massive amounts of cooling to keep from going into meltdown. How would we keep it cool if all the surface water is frozen solid?
Originally posted by: SunnyD
Originally posted by: Xenon
PS. One thing to remember about the nuclear plants around the world. They need massive amounts of cooling to keep from going into meltdown. How would we keep it cool if all the surface water is frozen solid?
Easily - fully exposed reactors in a 4 degree Kelvin environment == kickass cooling, far better than current water cooling technology.
Speaking of, I wonder how far I'd be able to overclock my computer in such an environment.
Originally posted by: SunnyD
Originally posted by: Xenon
PS. One thing to remember about the nuclear plants around the world. They need massive amounts of cooling to keep from going into meltdown. How would we keep it cool if all the surface water is frozen solid?
Easily - fully exposed reactors in a 4 degree Kelvin environment == kickass cooling, far better than current water cooling technology.
Speaking of, I wonder how far I'd be able to overclock my computer in such an environment.
Originally posted by: SmoiL
Some helpful links for anyone looking to try and work out a solution.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar97/856918157.Es.r.html
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/labs/earth_energy/energy_balance1.htm
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/~ah297/un-esa/astrophysics/astro-chapter4.html[/q
great links
Originally posted by: ed21x
Originally posted by: Descartes
The distance from the sun to the earth is considered a single astronomical unit, and it would take the last bit of light from the sun about 8 minutes to reach us. This is of course assuming that the sun simply "burn out" and didn't follow the empirical stellar evolution of a white dwarf. Assuming that, the ambient temperature would be little more than absolute zero, Kelvin; roughly the same temperature as observed in the cosmic microwave background. Since the 2nd law of thermodynamics says heat transfers spontaneously from a hot to a cold medium, I would *think* the thermal capacity of the earth would be high enough to sustain an existence for a couple of seconds? It can be quantitatively measured, but I don't know what the respective values.
Bullsh!t
The sun is NOT a white dwarf star and thus would not collapse upon itself after radiating all its energy. Also, the 2nd law of thermodynamics is a general rule that applies conceptually but doesn't take into account several factors in physics. For starters, there will have to be a coefficient of heat transfer out of the atmosphere multiplied by the distance between the surface of the earth and the outside of the atmosphere, multiplied and surface area of the earth. Take that into account, add into the fact that >70% of the earth is water, and that water is fairly effective in retaining heat. However, i like how you stuck in the words "cosmic microwave background" despite the fact that microwaves really only radiate from stars.
Originally posted by: SmoiL
Some helpful links for anyone looking to try and work out a solution.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar97/856918157.Es.r.html
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/labs/earth_energy/energy_balance1.htm
http://www.seas.columbia.edu/~ah297/un-esa/astrophysics/astro-chapter4.html[/q
From your 3rd link...
What would happen with the oceans? Well, there's a tremendous amount of latent heat in the oceans, which would help to warm the atmosphere.
Indeed.
The ocean really is remarkable. Places like Seattle receive very little snow during the winter and barely break 80 during the summer just because of the ocean sitting just off the coast. Then look at places like Finland. The only thing keeping that place from turning into a frozen wasteland like Siberia is the Gulf Stream.
Originally posted by: TheAudit
Long enough for me to break out the porn one last time!