What would happen if the earth left its orbit?

Over the years, I have heard that that the Earth will soon leave its orbit and crash into the sun. Many theories over the years have predicted this phenomenon stating that it would happen soon. Some of the older theories said it would happen in 2020 which is obviously not true as we are all still here today. When given this project, I thought to all the times I had heard this theory and asked myself: could this ever actually happen? On its own the question was simple: will the Earth ever crash into the sun? Asking this question made me think more, what could happen if we went another way, and is that even possible? These questions soon brought me to my final question: What would happen if the Earth left the orbit?

To first understand how the Earth could leave the orbit, you must first know what an orbit is. By definition, an orbit is ‘the curved path of a celestial object or spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon, especially a periodic elliptical revolution.’ To simplify, it is a constant path an object takes around a larger object as seen in the picture bellow. An orbit is not a perfect circle, it is usually in the shape of an ellipse or an oval although planets orbits are the closest to a circle . An object in an orbit is called a satellite and can be natural or manmade.

The way an orbit works is that the gravitational pull of the larger object curves the path of the satellite stopping it from going straight. The speed the satellite is moving keeps it from crashing into the larger object. If the satellite slows down, the orbit will become smaller to compensate and the satellite will become closer to the larger object. If the satellite sped up, the orbit would expand and the distance between the satellite and the larger object will grow.

 

 

Now, it comes down to the question of what can cause the Earth to leave the orbit. There are a few ways that this can happen:

Theory 1:

• The Earth could slow down and eventually stop

If the Earth were to stop suddenly, it would be like an implosion and an explosion happened at the same time as the velocity that was once used to move the Earth around the orbit is still working on Earth. Some of Earth would go off on its own into space, and the rest would continue to stay in the orbit. By stopping, the gravitational pull of the sun will pull us in towards it where we will eventually come in contact with it. In an interview with Dave Rothstein from Cornell’s Ask an Astronomer the subject was brought up. He calculated that it would take around 65 days for the Earth to reach the sun. He mentioned that by day 41, we would cross Venus’s orbit, and by day 57, we would cross Mercury’s orbit. According to the video below (0:58-1:37), we would experience crops and vegetations die, followed by unbearable heat, then melting glaciers, rising sea levels and floods before the water starts to boil. In a universe today article, they mentioned that the Earth would become hotter the closer it gets to the sun. Using the calculations of Aatish Bhatia, they mentioned that by day 30 the average temperature would rise to 50°C, by day 50 it would be at 125°C and on the final day, we would reach a final temperature of 3,000°C and then… DEATH!!!!!!

Though this theory does make sense, in is near impossible to actually happen as there is no know force that can simply stop the Earth. In a Universe Today article, they present us with a ‘plausible scenario’ that could drag the earth into the sun. They state that sometime in the future, the sun will turn into a red giant and expand outward. By doing so, it will consume both Venus and Mercury’s orbits but is still unknown if it will consume Earth’s as well. If it does, the Earth will be inside the sun and continue inward. Obviously, the Earth is orbiting inside to sun, so technically, the falling already happened.

 

Theory 2:

• The Earth speeds up

Like earlier mentioned, when a satellite speeds up, the orbit will expand. In this example, the Earth is the satellite, and the sun is the larger object. If the Earth continued to gain velocity, it would slowly move further away from the sun. In the video above (1:38-2:11) and an article by Chris Opfer, they mention that the Earth would cool and potentially freeze. First, days would get darker and years would become longer as completing the annual orbit will take longer. We would experience all vegetation suffer and die as there is not enough light to photosynthesize*. Oceans would be covered in ice and eventually freeze over, producing less carbon dioxide and vapour (the ocean is considered the lungs of the planet as it provides 50% of the oxygen we need).

*Converting light energy into chemical energy (glucose)

In Chris Opfer’s article, he mentions ‘Earth’s delicate positioning with Jupiter’ and by the Earth moving, Jupiter can no longer stop the harmful gases and asteroids from hitting Earth. It is also suggested (2:15-2:26) that while moving away from the sun there is a chance that Earth could collide with another planet. If that were to happen, the outcome would depend on numerous factors such as their sizes, physical compositions, and the speed they are moving. A collision between two planets would end in a HUGE release of energy and will potentially lead to the formation of a new planet from debris or one planet could absorb the other if there is a significant size difference. The impact would also generate an intense heat and could cause significant changes in orbits or even eject them from their solar system.

Below is a simple explanation of a collision

 

Below is an example of two rocky exoplanets colliding

Theory 3:

• The sun disappears entirely

If the sun were to disappear entirely, which is basically impossible, it will leave us with no gravitational pull at all, sending us in a straight line off into space. We would experience many if not all the same effects as theory 2 again sooner or later ending in death.

 

Either way, in all three of these scenarios , one thing stays the same. WE ALL DIE!!!!!!!

This got me wondering if there was a way to stop the Earth from going anywhere to prevent us from death. While researching, I came across a solution to stop the Earth from slowing down. The author, Paul Sutter, suggested to expand Earth’s orbit keeping it at a good distance from the sun. To do so would require lots of energy. His plan is to steal some energy from Jupiter’s orbit. He proposed to used a large rock (the bigger the better) and send it in Jupiter’s direction. We would then loop the rock around Jupiter taking some of its energy and bring it back to Earth via the rock. This procedure would be repeated MANY times until we raise the orbit enough to keep the temperatures stable.

If this procedure was done wrong, there could be major consequences. Jupiter has lots of energy in it’s orbit. I we aren’t being careful, we can take too much energy and the Earth will ‘permanently exit the solar system’. Once Earth is gone, it will never come back and will roam as a ‘rogue planet’ forever.

 

If i had more time to research i would have wanted to know:

• is it possible for the Earth to then join another orbit?
• could its orbit come back when the planet is further from the sun?
• Are there any other ways to prevent this from happening?
• is there any way to estimate when we could reach the sun or if we ever do?

 

To answer my original question of what would happen if the earth left the orbit, everything would die. Death would be inevitable. It can come soon or it can take time but will eventually happen. It can come from being cooked by our sun or suffering an eternal ice age but in the end, and to be put simply it comes down to death.

 

 

Sources:

“Chapter 3: Gravity & Mechanics – NASA Science.” NASA, NASA, science.nasa.gov/learn/basics-of-space-flight/chapter3-4/. Accessed 13 June 2024.

NASA STEM Team. “What Is an Orbit? (Grades 5-8).” NASA, NASA, 3 June 2024, www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/for-kids-and-students/what-is-an-orbit-grades-5-8/.

Opfer, Chris. “What If Earth Changed Its Orbit?” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 9 June 2023, science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/what-if/what-if-earth-changed-its-orbit.htm.

Sutter, Paul. “Could Earth Ever Become a Rogue Planet?” Space.Com, Space, 29 July 2023, www.space.com/earth-become-rogue-planet-sun-death.

Universe Today. “What If Earth Stopped Orbiting the Sun?” Phys.Org, Phys.org, 11 July 2016, phys.org/news/2016-07-earth-orbiting-sun.html.

 

Images:

pics-about-space.com

What Happens When Planets Collide – NASA

 

Videos:

Scientifically. “What Would Happen If Earth Falls out of Orbit.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Feb. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?si=MBByAjC3fZmJL38s&v=4Y9O5Y2t9SQ&feature=youtu.be.