PhysicsFilter: What would happen if the earth suddenly disappeared?

August 23, 2010 3:41 PM

I've often wondered what exactly would happen if the earth suddenly disappeared (as if by magic - not by an implosion or other comparatively slow moving process) and we were left, for a moment at least, floating in space. If the atmosphere would survive this event, how long would it last? Would we be instantly crushed by the vacuum of space? I'd love to hear some theories from people more knowledgeable in meteorology and physics than myself.
posted by Awakened to science & nature (10 answers total)

If the earth "suddenly disappeared", your last worry will be getting "crushed". Let me also point out that "vacuum"= nothing... it's going to "crush" you?

This is sort of chat filter, there is no answer to this.
posted by HuronBob at 3:44 PM on August 23, 2010

Not instantly crushed, but quite soon after. The atmosphere would disperse almost immediately and everything left would get blown around willy nilly, as pressures equalized. The crushing would commence at this point.
posted by dobie at 3:47 PM on August 23, 2010

I believe the risk for astronauts, if their space suits were torn, is that their blood would boil and they would basically explode. Losing the earth would be mean losing a huge gravitational pull, so the atmosphere would dissipate pretty fast.
posted by parkerjackson at 3:50 PM on August 23, 2010

Would your blood boil? No.
posted by circular at 3:56 PM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I believe the risk for astronauts, if their space suits were torn, is that their blood would boil and they would basically explode.

This is a common misconception. Cecil will set you straight.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:00 PM on August 23, 2010

If the earth truly vanished and left a true vacuum instead of the false vacuum of space then the atmosphere would be sucked into the empty space and pushed by the higher pressure of 'real' space. So the thin layer of atmosphere would have to fill the void left by the now lost earth. People, atmosphere, all the little animals, etc. would keep their momentum and without the gravitational pull of the earth would tend to fly away like stones from a sling, but I would guess that the suck to quickly-ishly thin out the atmosphere leaving everybody to suffocate before actually becoming thin enough to make them explode.
posted by zengargoyle at 4:01 PM on August 23, 2010

Incidentally, if you are looking for a fictional treatment of such -- and I am appalled that I know this -- this was a plot point in a Star Trek:Voyager novel. A look at a Star Trek wiki suggests this would be: Echoes (no. 15), by Dean Wesley Smith (January 1998). The Voyager- crew finds a system that appears to have been recently populated. But instead of finding a planet, billions of bodies appear dying in space. To save billions and the ship as well, Janeway must face a series of alternate realities.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:30 PM on August 23, 2010

Not to mention that it would get really really cold (like -450 degrees F), really really fast. I'd think you'd probably freeze solid before you had a chance to implode/explode.
posted by elendil71 at 4:33 PM on August 23, 2010

I'm in the 'no crush' camp. Whatever pressure difference there is between space and the 'true vacuum' where the Earth used to be would be negligible. Nothing like the differences in pressures that would cause your body to be crushed in the deep oceans.

Whatever momentum you had going right before the Earth vanished you will likely still have, but you would likely get get pulled in by the gravity of the moon. If you escaped the moon's gravity, I'd imagine you would eventually get pulled in to the Sun or whichever other heavenly body you pass by.

circular's link talks about blood boiling or bodies freezing solid. Both scenarios seem like a 'no'. Although your body would bloat out to twice it's size.

circular and ricochet biscuit's links indicate you would have roughly 10 seconds of useful consciousness. Somebody with a quick mind and good location might be able to finger his/her boss before everybody passes out.
posted by thisisnotbruce at 4:43 PM on August 23, 2010

> Not to mention that it would get really really cold (like -450 degrees F), really really fast. I'd think you'd probably freeze solid before you had a chance to implode/explode.

No.
posted by languagehat at 4:50 PM on August 23, 2010