Recently, I was watching a Youtube video of an episode of the New Twilight Zone with Forrest Whitaker, that came out in 2002. The episode was about a group of college students who unleash an Aztec curse that plunges the Earth into darkness…and they must sacrifice one of their own to bring the Sun back. As crazy as the idea that the sun could disappear, I enjoyed this episode as it forces a rationality of what people will do for the greater good.
But my morbid curiosity got me thinking, what would really happen if the sun did disappear?
After researching online, I found out that if the sun disappeared, for eight-and-a-half minutes we’d have no idea that the sun had gone. We’d still see it – lingering, like a ghost – in the sky above Earth’s day side. As soon as the last of the sun’s light reached us – eight-and-a-half minutes after the sun itself disappeared – the sun would blink out and night would fall over the entire Earth.
Without the sun, we would freeze to death. Within a week, the average global surface temperature would drop below 0°F. In a year, it would dip to –100°. Photosynthesis would halt immediately, and most plants would die in a few weeks. Large trees, however, could survive for several decades. With the food chain’s bottom tier knocked out, most animals would die off quickly, but scavengers picking over the dead remains could last until the cold killed them.
Here is how the first 7 days would look like:
- Day 1, satellites will fail Panic, looting, killings – plenty of people revisiting churches, synagogues or whatever.
- Day 2, diesel and all fuels will freeze. Burst pipes – water, gas overhead power lines will fail – ice accumulation. Winds will drop or stop completely as there is now no difference in temperature. Oceans/seas will begin to freeze and the levels will drop as ice is accumulated around the polar regions.
- Day 3. All surface water would have frozen. Most people frozen dead in their homes.
- Day 4. Nobody can venture outside. All non nuclear power stations have now ceased working.
- Day 5. Nuclear power stations cease working as electrical systems mal function.
- Day 6. Seas frozen. Ice sheets everywhere.
- Day 7. Total nothingness.
What is the point of all this? Yes, we all know we need the sun to survive. But I just wanted to take a few moments and remind all of us how grateful we should be that we are alive now and are living in this world. Be grateful for everything you have in your life right now, even our sun, which is the source of life that sustains energy on this beautiful planet we live on.
So, if it’s not too hot, go outside and feel the warmth of the sunlight touching your body.
And let the sunshine in!
