If the sun suddenly disappeared, how long would life on Earth last, from humans and plants to subterranean bacteria? It depends what is meant by “disappeared”. If it means the sun and its mass being deleted by some god-like entity, then 8 minutes later, Earth would stop orbiting and move off in a straight line towards the boundary of the solar system at 107,000 kilometres per hour.
So would the other planets. Eventually, Earth could catch up with Jupiter moving at about 47,000 km/h. Earth might even become another moon of Jupiter, now the most massive body in the solar system.
All life would have frozen to death before we reached the hazards of the asteroid belt. If “disappeared” means we no longer see the sun because the sun has stopped emitting light and heat (but its mass remains), then 8 minutes later, photosynthesis stops. But there would be little immediate change.
After all, life on Earth is accustomed to the dark of night. The surface of Earth would cool rapidly. Within a week, surface water would be frozen and most plants and animals would begin to die.
Any water deep below the ice would remain liquid for decades, so some aquatic animals could live for years feeding on detritus. If the sun disappeared, Earth would simultaneously be obliterated by the cataclysmic event that caused it to disappear Less than 0.001 per cent of life on Earth doesn’t depend on photosynthesis. Such organisms, typically found in the depths of the oceans, could survive until even those depths froze.
But humans are inventive, with access to huge amounts of energy in the form of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Our cities shine so brightly they are visible from space. We would light and heat our homes.
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