Is the natural temperature of the universe "cold" ?

Question

I have thought, where does heat come from? The main thing that provides heat on earth is the Sun, chemical and physical activities within the planet also generate heat, but the absolute main source is the sun.

If the sun ceased to exist, if it one day just dissapeared, would the entire earth freeze over? If it would, does that mean that cold is the natural temperature of the empty universe?

If things are cold without the sun, or stars, or other astral bodies radiating heat, does that mean the universe in itself *is* cold?

I know I'm very ignorant on the subject if you can provide links of places where to read more about this I'd welcome it.

Answer 1

Cold is a relative term. So is hot. What is cold or hot to humans might be different for another creature-or an alien.

If the sun ceased to exist, the earth would indeed freeze over. But that isn't "cold"-just cold to us. The only *real* "cold" that everyone can agree on is absoloute zero--459.67 degrees Fahreheit, or 273.15 degrees Centigrade. And the Earth wouldn't get that cold if the sun froze over, because there is always minimal heat in the universe from all of the stars.

The universe itself, without any stars, would get to absoloute zero and indeed be definetley cold. But with any star at all in the universe, it will not get that cold.
However, the universe itself, when you are not in the direct line of heat with a star, is cold to us. I'm assuming that's what you want to know.

Answer 2

The Universe is not cold. It is being heated up Continuously by cosmic nuclear furnaces called stars.So the Universe is not really freezing. So the average temperature in degree kelvin of the Universe is measured by the temperature energy that it contained per cubic meter.
The question is can we have life support if the sun and all the stars became burned out.
According to the science beliefs a would be burned out star is called black holes; because they do not give off light and heat.That means a new type of life would have to evolve to adopt to the New surroundings. However; Science never designed the Universe that way.

Answer 3

How Cold Is The Universe

Answer 4

Here is some insight on heat. The Earth we live on feels warm in the sunshine because the radiation from the Sun excites particles in our air. So "heat" is really just excited particles of air that are bouncing all over us. When you climb a mountain, you are actually closer to the Sun, so why do you get colder as you get higher? Because there are fewer particles of air that are bouncing all over you. In the vacuum of space, you would not feel the heat from other stars because there would be no excited air molecules.

Answer 5

Yes . . . . but that's a lot of typing for one word. You do realize (I hope) that Christians don't have a problem with you being an atheist. You can believe what you wish. It is when people go on the attack, say thing like, "How can you people be so STUPID as to believe in a god, . . . " or "If god is real, does that mean Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are real, too?" Those are inflammatory, offensive, attack questions, and they generally get the desired response. I correspond on a REGULAR basis with an Atheist in Japan. He is a good man. . . . loves his kids. We never, EVER fight about religion. I understand he does NOT believe in God and he understands that I DO. We respect each other. Live and let live. We'll accept you, as long as you can accep us. Dan in Miami

Answer 6

our universe are cold without sun. the sun is the main source of the heat(warm). the star is hot as well but no as hot as the sun. the blue star is the hottest star (the temp) compare to the red stars. example, the nearer the planet to the sun will be the warmest compare to the planet which is far away like pluto(already remove from our universe list) & uranium is colder than the earth

Answer 7

The universe itself is absolutely freezing! Absolute zero literally. The only source of heat are from the bodies that produce it such as stars, entire galaxies and even some planets.

Answer 8

yep. all of the known universe out of the heating range of a star (like our sun) is pretty damn cold.
The temperature of the universe is 2.725 +/- 0.002 degrees Kelvin. The Kelvin scale,in case you slept through high school physics, is the same as the Celsius scale, only it starts at absolute zero. In short, the universe is pretty cold. Fortunately, our Milky Way galaxy is about 0.0001 K toastier.

Answer 9

Yes.
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mspacetemp.html

Answer 10

You have a lot to learn about heat. The short answer: yes, the universe would be very cold if the stars died off, but there would always be some heat leftover.