Yes, it’s stupid. Irrespective of where the earth is in its orbit, it will fly off from the sun such that its distance from the sun increases at the same rate subsequently. The sun’s motion through space doesn’t matter because the both the sun and earth share that same inertial frame moving through space.
What's stupid is that the earth would be ripped apart immediately... Who cares about its direction relative to the sun.
for humans; i would say a fair amount would be dead within minutes and just about all within an hour.
the last to die would be anyone in a sealed environment such as sat divers or the international space station. they might live long enough to see the earth recede from them as they fly off into space.
bowie would last the longest since he would be in an oxygen tent, pinned to the ceiling.
for humans; i would say a fair amount would be dead within minutes and just about all within an hour.
the last to die would be anyone in a sealed environment such as sat divers or the international space station. they might live long enough to see the earth recede from them as they fly off into space.
bowie would last the longest since he would be in an oxygen tent, pinned to the ceiling.
I think this is pretty spot on. I always assumed the atmosphere washing away would kill most of us. Some would drown as a body of water literally floats into them and they can't get away. Lack of heat from the sun would take a long while, I think we'd all be dead long before that. Except, as you pointed out, those lonely souls on the ISS.
Are we assuming ionic bonds, Van Der Waals forces, etc. remain intact? Just no gravity?
That is how everyone seems to be interpreting this question. Van der Waals forces are a consequence of EM forces (plus quantum effects). If we assume that that as well as strong and weak nuclear forces remain intact as-is, then gravity is the only one of the four fundamental forces gone missing in OP’s premise.
If so, things won’t just burst into smithereens. The earth itself would elastically rebound from the extreme compressive tension of gravity and crack but probably not instantaneously and not into smithereens but more like large fractures into pieces loosely held together until they slowly separate away from each other in space.
The earth itself would elastically rebound from the extreme compressive tension of gravity and crack but probably not instantaneously and not into smithereens but more like large fractures into pieces loosely held together until they slowly separate away from each other in space.
That would fling... well, at least separate... the atmosphere (And oceans) from the surface... we're going to asphyxiate. We'll be wishing that all the other forces would have disappeared. :/
The sun would stop burning very quickly. Gravity creates the pressure that makes the fusion in the sun work. Turn gravity off and everything will get flung outwards at (does math. Realizes I don't know how to do the math) very fast.
This is a fairly minor problem when compared to being flung off the Earth at 1000mph (less if you are further away from the equator), but it won't help.