I need to know for my not computer friendly mom...
2007-03-24 13:17:24 · 13 answers · asked by grunge_is_dead 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
1 year but the sun ages in stages the next stage is red giant and we would all melt if that happened the stage after that is supernova which is the largest explosion imaginable
2007-03-24 13:21:41 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
This could be two different questions - if you switched the sun off, the earth would go dark immediately, but it would take a bit of time to cool off - there is internal heat that would come out, but it would not take much time at all (the artic and antartic go dark for a month or so, and get pretty cold in the process). The sun is a small white star, and would actually 'go dark' once it burns most of it's hydrogen over millions of years, collapses into a dwarf - it might actually balloon out for a bit before that and toast the Earth in the process).
2007-03-24 13:36:31 · answer #2 · answered by Steve E 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So what you're really asking is, if the sun suddenly (magically) went dark how long would light continue to fall on the earth before the darkness reached earth? The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second and the earth is 93,000,000 miles from the sun. It's just simple division....
93,000,000 / 186,000 = 500 seconds
500 / 60 = 8.33333 minutes = 8min, 20 sec
Hi Mom!
2007-03-24 13:29:44 · answer #3 · answered by Diogenes 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If the sun were to instantly go dark, we on Earth wouldn't know it for about 8 minutes. That's the light travel time from the sun to Earth.
2007-03-24 13:22:55 · answer #4 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it takes 8 mins for light to get from the sun to the earth...I don't exactly know what you're asking....
the earth with be LONG GONE by the time the suns burns out....
2007-03-24 15:52:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The correct answer, from our inertial frame, is about 8 minutes.
Given that...
the distance between Earth and the Sun is 149,597,887.5 km on average. (That's called the semi-major axis, by the way)
and that the speed of light is 299,972.458 km/s.
distance / speed, that equals: 489.71 seconds. (time)
divide that by 60 to get minutes: 8 minutes and 9.71 seconds.
2007-03-24 13:30:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
approx 8 min and 23 secs thats how long it takes for light to get from sun to earth
2007-03-24 13:51:53 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
about 8 minutes, thats the time it takes light to travel the distance of the sun to the Earth.
2007-03-24 13:19:57 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I assume you mean from sundown till dark which takes 30 minutes.
2007-03-24 13:25:53 · answer #9 · answered by missingora 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
astronomers think in about 5 billion years the sun will go out.Just so you know that's a very good question
2007-03-24 14:33:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋