Which direction would the earth move if the Sun were to disappear?

Answer 1

In a straight line tangent to its orbit in the direction that it was traveling.

... E------>
/ .. . \
| . S |
\___/

so that's supposed to be the earth and the sun, and ignore the dots -- yahoo doesn't like my artwork

This is the same problem as swinging something around your head on a string and then letting go (or having the rope break). It doesn't go directly away from you...

Answer 2

The planets and asteroids would fly off and become rogue planets. On Earth the water would freeze into a thick cap several miles high, the CO2, Nitrogen and Oxygen would freeze into a thick cap ontop of the ice, only hydrogen and helium would remain in the atmosphere. However, the Earth is really a molten ball of magma with a really thin crust so the Earth will still be hot for billions of years and life might continue deep underground or around hydrothermal vents. There's also tidal energy from the Moon's orbit and Earth's rotation but that will probably just crack the ice a bit. If humans could dig underground and build small biospheres then they could survive for millions of years but if the Sun were to just disappear, there wouldn't be enough time to do that so only a handful would get into a few mines and live a few days to months before running out of air, water, and food. Jupiter acts like a miniature Sun and some of the asteroids might start orbiting Jupiter. Jupiter already has a number of Moons like a small solar system and it actually gives off radiation. Life would probably continue on some of Jupiter's Moons, the same would be true of Saturn though Saturn doesn't give off nearly as much radiation. The planets would be joining the debris in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud and there are many dwarf planets already out there, there's even a brown dwarf in the Oort cloud. If we had space habitats such as hollowed out asteroids, Bernal spheres or O'neil cylinders then we could continue on living in darkness amongst the asteroids, comets, Jupiter's / Saturn's Moons and dwarf planets indefinitely or till we build up the nerve to strike out across interstellar space. On Earth, we would have to get through miles of ice to get free.

Answer 3

It would suddenly start travelling in a straight line from the point where it was when the Sun disappeared. Unfortunately, so would all the other planets. Just hope that we don't end up on a collision course with any of them !

Answer 4

Put the reason of Sun's disappearing aside and forget about the aftermath of it on Earth then sargent97's answer is the best.

For an illustration, look at hammer throw.

Answer 5

Earth too will disappear if the sun disappears!

Answer 6

Towards west with respect to sun if sun disappears suddenly.

Answer 7

This would be totally contingent upon the circumstances OF the Sun's disappearance !!

Answer 8

tie some weight and spin it about over your head. this will be the simulation of earth rotating. release the rope and the weight will be fly off tangentially - such happens if the sun 'disappears'

Answer 9

simply non,
The Earth would not revolve or turn around as it needs the solar power provided by the sun to give it energy to do so.
Either way, we wouldnt be living on the earth as the sun is one of our major sources needed in life/ to liv.

Answer 10

OPPOSITE FROM THE LAST DIRECTION OF THE SUN'S GRIP BEFORE IT DISAPPEARED AND IN A STRAIGHT LINE UNLESS OTHER FORCES STARTS ACTING UPON IT.