Would Earth fly off into space if the Sun disappeared?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the implications of the hypothetical disappearance of the Sun and its effects on Earth's gravitational relationship. According to general relativity (GR), the Sun cannot vanish instantaneously; any changes in its mass would affect Earth only after a delay of approximately eight minutes, the time it takes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth. This delay occurs because alterations in the curvature of spacetime propagate at the speed of light, meaning Earth would continue to orbit the Sun until the gravitational influence diminishes. The conversation emphasizes that GR forbids the scenario of the Sun disappearing, as it contradicts the fundamental principles of the theory.

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  • #31
It all good Oro i am now aware the question is impossible in GR and will work on it. It was a high school level question so perhaps tone it down sunshine.
 
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  • #32
Julius Ceasar said:
It all good Oro i am now aware the question is impossible in GR and will work on it. It was a high school level question so perhaps tone it down sunshine.
Regardless of level, do you want to learn something or just be told a story? This is the difference between science and popular science. Whereas learning science will tell you how the theories actually work and generally requires you to make more effort outside your comfort zone, popular science will tell you a story about science that comes with a million caveats you have no chance to catch as a layman. This is all good if you understand that and it is what you want. However, there are countless examples of people coming to these forums with the impression that they know science based on popularised accounts.
 
  • #33
I can appreciate that.
 
  • #34
An object like the sun cannot go out of existence. But if it does (If the sun converted all its mass into energy in a second and all the energy is ejected from its poles perpendicular to Earth's orbit plane), it'll take 8:34 min to recognize, optical as well as gravitational since nothing is faster than the speed of light.

I do not see why there have been so many posts, and even less why this thread became personal.

Thread closed.
 
Last edited:

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