If the sun was to suddenly be turned off, how long would it be before we on earth would know?

Answer 1

so that there is no mistery take 93,000,000 and divide it by the speed of light 186,000 per second and you will get your answere
this equal 500 seconds . now divide this by 60 seconds and you get your minutes.this is your answere 8.33333 or 8minutes and twenty seconds.

Answer 2

The light from the sun is created by the intense heat at the core. This heat / light bounces around inside a sun for a long long time -- a million years, on average, before it gets to the surface. I would guess we would start to notice a little change after about 100,000 or 200,000 years.

On the other hand, the neutrinos zap right out in 2 seconds, and get to Earth about 8 minutes later. There are neutrino detectors on Earth that would notice a change in just a few hours.

On the third hand, I don't see how the light/heat producing reactions in the core could be "turned off", without also turning off the pressure they create. The lack of pressure would cause the Sun to collapse inwards -- this would take only a few 10's of minutes. Then it would bounce back -- very violently == nova time! Goodbye to all of us!

Answer 3

The high-energy photons (gamma and X-rays) released in fusion reactions take a long time to reach the Sun's surface, slowed down by the indirect path taken, as well as by constant absorption and reemission at lower energies in the solar mantle. Estimates of the "photon travel time" range from as much as 50 million years[8] to as little as 17,000 years.[9] After a final trip through the convective outer layer to the transparent "surface" of the photosphere, the photons escape as visible light. Each gamma ray in the Sun's core is converted into several million visible light photons before escaping into space. Neutrinos are also released by the fusion reactions in the core, but unlike photons they very rarely interact with matter, so almost all are able to escape the Sun immediately. For many years measurements of the number of neutrinos produced in the Sun were much lower than theories predicted, a problem which was recently resolved through a better understanding of the effects of neutrino oscillation.

The 8 light-minutes that is the distance from sun to earth is irrilevant.

Answer 4

It takes a while for the sunlight to each the earth, id have to say about 8 minutes. First off, why we turn off the sun? Lol i dont see a power switch on it do you? :)

Answer 5

Light travels at 300 000 kilometers per second, and it takes approximately 8 seconds for sunlight to reach earth. So if the sun would be turned off right now, we would know in 8 minutes.

Answer 6

The exact time is 8 minutes 33 seconds.

Answer 7

Around 8 mts and 17 seconds

Answer 8

Depends on the time of the year. Earth is nearest the sun in early Jan (This year it was on Jan 3rd at 20.00) and furthest in early July (This year will be on July 7th at 00.00) so it would be anything from 8.243727 mins to 8.625987 mins.
We should be able to spot the difference.

Answer 9

8 minutes

Answer 10

8 minutes

Answer 11

8 minutes