When the Sun Goes Out: How the Earth Can Survive Universal Darkness

Our Sun will definitely go out. This was reminded to humanity in January 2021 by a professor at the University of Manchester, physicist Brian Cox. A well-known popularizer of science, a member of the Royal Society of London, works in the Atlas experiment group at the Large Hadron Collider. And the words of this man can be trusted. Do the inhabitants of the Earth have to prepare for a life in cold and darkness? How is humanity trying to create an artificial star? Talks about this and more program “Science and technology” on REN TV.

extinguished star

“Looking into space, you might think that the stars will always be there. In fact, stars can burn brightly for many millions or billions of years, but only as long as they have a supply of hydrogen. When a star like our Sun runs out of hydrogen, she’s starting to die.” Brian Cox said.

But what happens if the sun goes out? In any case, we will not know about it immediately, but only after eight minutes. That is how long it takes light to travel 150 million kilometers to Earth.

But as soon as this happens, the Moon and the planets of the solar system will disappear from the sky. After all, they themselves do not shine, but only reflect the light of the Sun. Most of the plants will die in two or three days. No sunlight – no photosynthesis. In a month the ground will be covered with snow. The temperature will drop to minus 50 degrees and a strong wind will begin. After all, the oceans cool more slowly than land, which means that hurricanes cannot be avoided.

A year later, frost will increase to 100-120 degrees. Carbon dioxide will freeze and practically all living things will die. Sad picture. Can humanity survive this apocalypse?

artificial sun

Right now, hundreds of scientists from all over the world are working on the creation of an artificial Sun, or rather, an infinite source of energy. In July 2020, the construction of the so-called ITER, or the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, began in France. And the protagonist of the project is the Chinese EAST tokamak, a magnetic plasma confinement facility. Thanks to this, it is possible to artificially control nuclear fusion.

“A thermonuclear reaction is a reaction that occurs with large releases of heat and pressure, often they occur on stars, such as our Sun, or on all other stars of the Universe“, – explains the deputy head of the laboratory of autonomous systems of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Mikhail Lipatov.

In May 2021, the Chinese tokamak showed stunning results. The plasma in it warmed up to a temperature almost seven times higher than in the Sun itself. This degree of incandescence lasted for a whole minute and a half. It turns out that we have every chance to get an independent source of energy right on Earth. But the idea of ​​creating the first tokamak belongs to Soviet scientists.

“The ancestor of thermonuclear fusion in general and the thermonuclear reactor is our Kurchatov Institute, where the first such reactor appeared. Thanks to the discovery of our scientists, we were able to create a virtual artificial sun. It is called that because the accompanying energy release is extremely high, that is, it is comparable to the energy of stars,” Lipatov added.

Fusion reactors are so popular today that even children make them. 13-year-old teenager Oswalt Jackson from the US state of Tennessee assembled an artificial sun right at home. And I spent 10 thousand dollars on it. Parents invested in their son’s dream.

“I would say that if you want to live in a world that is different from the one you are in now, then it’s a good job to change it in this way” – the boy says.

It turns out that, if desired, each of us will be able to acquire our own sun? Not so simple. The experiment of a young physicist from the United States has not yet been officially confirmed. As for the Sun from China, one and a half minutes of maximum heating is its limit. It may take more than a dozen years to create a longer reaction. What if the scientists don’t make it in time for the disaster?

deep burrows

To keep warm, people will have to go underground. But how can you survive there? The Earth’s core is a secret with seven seals. Real inner space! But in the 1970s, Soviet developers began to build a kind of telescope to look into the hot bowels of the Earth.

The Kola superdeep well in the Murmansk region became such a telescope. The work was carried out from 1970 to 1994. Scientists drilled down to 12,262 meters. It is no coincidence that the well is called the well to hell – this is the deepest intrusion into the earth’s crust in the entire history of mankind.

“The Kola Superdeep is a colossal scientific discovery, first of all, a confirmation of theoretical models of the structure of the lower layers of the earth’s crust. At a depth of five kilometers, the temperature reached 70 degrees, at a depth of seven kilometers it was already 120 degrees, and at a depth of 12 kilometers the temperature reached 220 degrees,” – explains the chief geologist of the design bureau Artem Shutov.

So, you don’t have to dig so deep. Even taking into account the cosmic cold that will cover the earth after the death of the Sun, 10-15 kilometers is enough. And it is quite possible to build underground cities, people are ready now.

“The main thing is to calculate everything, put in order ventilation, life support systems. Today there are many architectural projects of underground megacities,” – Shutov noted.

Air problems

The main thing is that ventilation works well. And this is a real disaster. After all, oxygen on our planet is produced by plants, and without sunlight, the process of photosynthesis will stop, and they will all die. It turns out that people will have to develop the technology of artificial photosynthesis. And such an attempt was recently made by one of the largest Japanese corporations.

“This device is a demonstration model of an artificial photosynthesis system that we have developed. When light hits this electrode, a CO2 reduction reaction occurs. The place where the reaction occurs is now yellow, but gradually becomes green. This is the part where the CO2 is actually reacts and a source of energy is created,” said Masahiro Deguchi, chief scientist of the company.

Artificial photosynthesis opens amazing possibilities for mankind. The Japanese are confident that very soon they will be able to establish industrial production.

In fact, humanity still has time to prepare for the end of the world, or rather, for the death of the Sun. After his loud statement, Professor Cox explained that our star has very little time left only by the standards of the Universe. Half of the Sun’s life cycle is indeed behind us. But this life cycle lasts at least nine billion years. During this period, people will definitely have time to come up with something.

The Science and Technology program on REN TV talks about the latest achievements in science, shows incredible technical innovations and gives the most fantastic predictions about what the world of the future will be like.