Every morning, we will see a flaming red ball rising from the east, it is the sun we are very familiar with. The sun has accompanied the earth for 4.6 billion years, has witnessed the formation and evolution of the earth’s ecology, and has witnessed the birth of life on the earth and human beings.
The sun is very important to the earth. It is the ruler of the solar system. Standing outside the earth, we also understand that the solar system is actually very small. It is just one of the hundreds of billions of star systems in the Milky Way, stars like the sun. There are hundreds of billions in the Milky Way, and there are countless in the entire universe.
According to Newton’s theory, we know that all things have gravitation, and any object with mass has gravitation, and gravitation is inversely proportional to distance and directly proportional to mass. The greater the mass, the greater the gravity. Therefore, in the universe, mass is king, and the mass of stars is much greater than that of planets, so it can firmly attract planets to move around it, thus forming star systems.
In the solar system, the mass of the sun occupies 99.86% of the entire solar system, so its gravity occupies an absolute advantage, and the eight planets all move around it. In this solar system, the stability of the sun determines the stability of the entire solar system. As long as its mass does not fluctuate greatly, then the entire system will not be chaotic, and the earth can continue to survive.
But everything is not absolute. If there is a problem with the sun one day, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for the entire solar system. Under normal circumstances, the sun will undergo huge changes when its life span reaches the end. That is, after 5 billion years, when the hydrogen element is consumed and the outer shell rapidly expands to become a red giant, it will continue to swallow the surrounding orbits, and the earth will not be spared.
In addition to the fact that the sun itself is going to be destroyed due to fate, there may be only man-made reasons for its huge fluctuations. Some friends may say that the sun is a very powerful celestial body, and it is impossible for human factors to change it. But in fact, from a scientific point of view, the sun is just a huge nuclear fusion reactor. As long as the power of science and technology is strong enough, It is not impossible to remove the sun.
A friend once brought up such an interesting topic: If the sun is removed by advanced civilization one day, how long will it take for humans to discover it? What impact will it have on the earth?
The power of science and technology is infinite. We may not be able to imagine how powerful the technological strength of advanced civilizations is, but one day we can be sure that advanced civilizations have at least the ability to travel across stars, that is, they have mastered something like a curvature engine. Flying faster than light.
For a powerful advanced civilization, the star may be just a relatively large energy source, and there may be a way to move it away. If there is no sun in the center of the solar system, it will definitely be a catastrophe for the entire solar system. Will human beings immediately find that the sun is missing?
We can see the existence of the sun because the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the surface of the sun has reached the earth and entered our naked eyes to interact with cells. The speed of electromagnetic waves is the speed of light. According to the distance between the sun and the earth, the sun’s electromagnetic radiation takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach. In other words, after the sun disappears, we need 8 minutes and 20 seconds to know.
Of course, this is to determine the disappearance of the sun by observing solar radiation. There is a delay of 8 minutes and 20 seconds, so some friends will say: If the observation is made through gravity, can we know the disappearance of the sun immediately? In Newton’s law of universal gravitation, gravity is a transcendental effect. There is no concept of speed. It can be transmitted instantly no matter how far the distance is.
Therefore, according to Newton’s law of universal gravitation, when the sun is removed by advanced civilization, we will immediately see it disappear, and the earth will be thrown out along the tangent direction of the orbit. So is Newton’s theory of gravity’s over-distance action correct? Einstein put forward a different view on this.
Einstein’s theory of relativity tells us that the essence of gravity is actually the distortion of time and space. Under the framework of the theory of relativity, the transmission speed of gravity does not arrive instantaneously, but has a speed, which is also the speed of light. According to this theory, if the sun disappears, we also need 8 minutes and 20 seconds to know.
If the sun disappears, what will be the fate of the earth and mankind?
We must know that the composition and prosperity of the ecosystem on the earth’s surface are formed on the basis of the existence of the sun. The energy of the sun has brought an excellent ecosystem to the earth, allowing the earth to give birth to life and to evolve into humans step by step. If the sun disappears, then the energy source on the earth’s surface is also lost.
Without the sun’s radiation, the temperature of the earth’s surface will drop rapidly, dropping to tens of degrees below zero within two weeks, and finally to about minus 200 degrees Celsius. Such a low temperature environment will also cause various gases in the atmosphere to liquefy and fall to the surface. Without the protection of the atmosphere, all the ecosystems on the earth’s surface will naturally disappear.
Similarly, the disappearance of the sun will also be a catastrophic disaster for life on earth. We all know that in the entire life system, plants are an important link and the lowest biological chain. The survival of animals requires plants to maintain. The survival of plants requires photosynthesis.
Without the sun, plants cannot carry out photosynthesis, which causes the entire plant chain on the ground to collapse, and all plants become extinct. Without plants, animals will also usher in the end. So can human beings survive?
Some people may think that human beings are intelligent life, with the help of technology, we can survive after the sun disappears. Perhaps many of my friends have watched “The Wandering Earth”, in which humans live in the ground as the earth wanders. Then in reality, after the sun disappears, can humans survive like this?
I’m afraid it can’t be achieved. First, if advanced civilizations remove the sun, they will certainly not greet humans in advance, so when the sun disappears, we only have 8 minutes and 20 seconds to prepare. Imagine that in such a short time, can we build underground cities one after another? Of course it is impossible.
The earth after the sun disappears will also become a wandering planet, and the surface will gradually be unable to allow life to survive. It is not possible for humans to build underground cities in a short time. The ecological collapse of the earth’s surface will be very fast, according to which it will not give us too long time to think. Therefore, in this case, humanity will also go to extinction.
Of course, this is just a result of humanity’s existing technology. If human beings become an interstellar civilization and have the ability to navigate between stars, even if the sun disappears, humans will not be extinct, because at that time we can completely take a spaceship outward. The galaxy migrated. It can be seen that technology is the most powerful support for mankind to get rid of the fate of possible disasters. As long as the power of science and technology is strong enough, in the face of any cosmic disaster or man-made disaster, mankind can have a way to deal with it.