Subtitles section Play video
-
The Sun's core is shrinking.
-
But as its core shrinks,
-
the Sun itself grows larger.
-
And it will continue to grow,
-
until one day,
-
it engulfs the Earth.
-
Every one billion years,
-
the Sun becomes 10% hotter.
-
But here on What IF,
-
we're going to take billions of years
-
and condense the action into one month.
-
Get ready,
-
because we're going to be moving
-
really fast this time.
-
Instead of one billion years,
-
it would only take four days
-
for the Sun to become 10% hotter.
-
This means you'll see the Earth
-
engulfed by the Sun in just one month.
-
That is,
-
if you're still around to witness
-
the final event.
-
On day one,
-
you'd be blissfully unaware
-
of the tragedy about to befall Earth.
-
Maybe it's a little hotter,
-
but that's just weather.
-
It happens.
-
But by day four,
-
space agencies across the globe
-
would be sounding the alarm bells.
-
By this time,
-
the Sun would be about
-
10% brighter and hotter.
-
And while 10% doesn't sound like a lot,
-
it will be the beginning of the end for us.
-
As the Sun heat up,
-
more and more water from Earth's surface
-
will evaporate into the atmosphere.
-
This will increase the
-
greenhouse gas effect,
-
causing global temperatures to skyrocket.
-
All of a sudden,
-
it will become very humid,
-
and very hot.
-
But the Sun's high-energy light would
-
bombard the atmosphere,
-
splitting those water molecules
-
into hydrogen and oxygen.
-
Earth will begin to lose its water.
-
And you won't be able to escape
-
the lethal radiation on Earth's surface.
-
If you want to survive,
-
you'll have to go deep underground.
-
But even under a protective layer
-
of Earth's soil,
-
you won't be safe for long.
-
By day 16,
-
the Sun would be almost 40% brighter.
-
Our planet's oceans will boil,
-
and there won't be any moisture left
-
in the atmosphere.
-
The beautiful,
-
lush Earth that you grew up on
-
will become a hot,
-
dry,
-
barren rock.
-
Around day 20,
-
the Sun would run out of hydrogen.
-
So instead,
-
it will start to burn helium in its core.
-
The Sun is now a red giant star,
-
and would expand rapidly
-
while losing its mass.
-
The Sun's gravitational pull on Earth
-
would be weakened,
-
and our planet would begin to drift away
-
from the expanding Sun.
-
But not far enough.
-
According to researchers Klaus-Peter Schroder and Robert C. Smith,
-
the Earth would only have moved about 0.0002 astronomical units.
-
An astronomical unit
-
is the distance between Earth and Sun.
-
While Earth is moving away
-
from the encroaching Sun,
-
the red giant would grow up to 1.2 AU in radius.
-
The Sun would be larger than Earth's orbit.
-
It would swallow the planet whole.
-
Once it's inside the Sun's atmosphere,
-
Earth would collide with particles
-
of gas and spiral inward.
-
And Earth wouldn't be the only casualty
-
of the expanding Sun.
-
Mercury and Venus would be vaporized.
-
The rings of Saturn would melt.
-
Pluto would become much warmer.
-
And if there is a liquid surface,
-
and a thick atmosphere
-
on this distant dwarf planet,
-
it even might become inhabitable.
-
Unfortunately,
-
30 days doesn't give the human race
-
enough time to prepare for such
-
a catastrophic event.
-
But if we had more time,
-
like billions of year's worth,
-
we could come up with an evacuation plan.
-
But that's a story for another What IF.