Okay Hollywood, here's an idea for a post-apocalyptic scenario: The Sun's extinction
In recent years we have seen all kinds of movies and series that pose us apocalyptic scenarios where humanity would be extremely threatened and potentially put on the verge of extinction, yet no one in Hollywood has ever raised the most terrifying scenario and that would more quickly put everyone on alert and totally on the verge of madness, the disappearance/extinction of the sun.
For this small chronology that I decided to create I will focus on the main effects that would cause the disappearance of the sun within the earth, that is to say that gravitational effects and all kinds of impacts on a large scale will be slightly obviated since they would be extremely complicated to explain and I plan to do it in another post.
If the sun were extinguished or annihilated from one day to the next, this would progressively bring unthinkable consequences for our planet. The extinction of the sun is still far from happening theoretically, however, let's play a little with the fiction and suppose some of the consequences that would trigger.
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Let's start designing the episodes of our post-apocalyptic series
Chapter One.
After the sun's extinction, on the first night, we would not see "significant" changes, however, there would be a decrease in the temperatures of the continents, but there would not be a very significant decrease in coasts, seas, and lakes; because water has absorbed more heat than air and earth.
Sunlight takes approximately 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach the earth, which means that we would not immerse ourselves in total darkness immediately. After those 8 minutes and 20 seconds have passed, total darkness would fall and therefore we would be unable to see the moon
Chapter Two.
Currently, the earth has an average temperature of between 15-16 degrees Celsius approximately. The decrease in temperature would not be immediately but progressively very intense.
In addition, snowstorms will gradually be unleashed all over the planet, even in places where there has never been snow.
Chapter Three.
As the days go by, the temperatures will drop to a point similar to that of the frozen territories of the poles. Imagine that the temperature is located at a level close to -60 degrees, at this point the alternative forms of energy could not be executed. With the extinction of the sun, winds would not form, and lakes and rivers would also freeze; leaving hydroelectric power plants and wind power plants useless.
Chapter Four.
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At this point, it is more than obvious that the plants would contract an inevitable death, and consequently, the majority of the livestock would also die.
The food reserves would quickly be finished. In addition, the zones whose temperatures were usually warm would be the ones that would most quickly perish as a result of not being accustomed to such low temperatures. I would believe that vegetation, animals, and people belonging to these areas would take between 2-3 weeks to die.
It should be noted that with the death of the plants, the production of oxygen would be complicated, however, this would not harm us immediately due to the oxygen reserves of the atmosphere.
Chapter Five
At the end of the first month, the oceans and seas would begin to freeze, although the water accumulates large amounts of heat would freeze anyway and this would mean a huge loss of moisture in the continents.
In addition, this would bring about the progressive death of most of marine life.
Chapter six
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Most terrestrial animals would die because of cold or hunger. Scavengers, subterranean creatures, and animals accustomed to low temperatures would survive a little longer but end up dying.
Being optimistic, humanity would be doomed. As there are no ways to generate energy and we run out of electricity, 90% or more of the world population would die.
After the first month has elapsed, almost all the inhabitants of the earth's surface would die.
Chapter Seven.
From here we add a small temporary jump to our post-apocalyptic world, and we jump in the events that would be triggered after more than a year of the disappearance of the sun.
The average global temperature would be -73 degrees Celsius and the only "habitable" and relatively safe areas would be areas where there is high geothermal activity or where volcanoes are present.
The seabed would remain at a somewhat elevated temperature for a little longer.
Chapter Eight
At this time the totality of the oceans would freeze completely, however, the water under the layer of ice that would be formed, would remain liquid and at more accessible temperatures for almost 4,000 million years.
Season Finale
Spoiler We'd be almost hopelessly dead.
The cold on the surface would be so extreme that the gases in the atmosphere would condense and quickly fall like a kind of dew, and then like snow. Eventually, the Earth's atmosphere would definitely collapse and the planet would be completely covered with oxygen, hydrogen and other solidified gases.
The organisms with the highest probability of life would be the extremophiles who would go to the deep sea since they do not need sunlight to survive.
In short, humanity would be doomed to death, unless they get ways to generate energy and food in underwater shelters located in the depths of the sea.
References.
- What Would Earth Be Like Without the Sun? - Wonderopolis
- What If the Sun Suddenly Disappeared? - INSH
- If The Sun Went Out, How Long Would Life On Earth Survive? - Popsci
- What would happen if the Sun disappeared? - SpaceAnswers
- Life on Earth Without the Sun: What Would Happen - YouTube
- World Without Sun - Wikipedia