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What would happen if the earth did not have the
sun....or the moon?
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Question Date: 2015-06-03 | | Answer 1:
It's thought that there are some planets like
this. They are called "orphan planets" or "rogue
planets" and drift aimlessly through space. They
are not near any stars and therefore do not
receive the large amounts of radiation that we get
from the sun. No life like our own could exist on
the surface, since we require energy from the sun
as the base of our food chains. It is thought
there could be heat-loving microbes or life forms
on these planets since they would still have
tectonic plate motion. Some scientists also have
shown that they could have heavy atmospheres that
trap in geological heat, allowing the planet to
even be warm. They can form by being flung out of
a developing solar system. Since we haven't yet
identified one, we don't know many details about
what these planets could be like.
| | Answer 2:
Without the sun, the Earth would freeze into a
ball of ice. Without the moon, the Earth would
have much weaker tides, and those tides would be
from the sun. Eventually, the Earth's rotation
would slow down until one side of the Earth always
faced the sun while the other side always faced
away from it. Instead, we are slowly locking onto
the moon, instead of the sun.
| | Answer 3:
This is a complex question to answer since so
much would depend on how the sun or the moon
disappeared. If our sun never formed, than the
Earth would not have had a gravity well to rotate
around and would likely never have formed. If
our moon never formed, we’d still have life on
Earth but it would be quite different from what it
looks like today. And, if either disappeared, the
results would be catastrophic. For in-depth
discussion on what would happen if they did, check
out these sites:
what if
how stuff works
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