Why will the Earth never be 'swallowed' if one day the Sun turns into a black hole?

According to scientists' calculations, the scary hypothesis may happen.

According to scientists' calculations, the scary hypothesis may happen.

According to scientific research, the Sun is currently entering the middle stage of its existence. The planet continuously produces energy (and helium) by fusing hydrogen atoms in its core.

As the supply of hydrogen in the core dries up, stars like the Sun will begin to enter what the space agency NASA calls the "red giant phase."

NASA further explained: "In about 5 billion years, the Sun will begin to exhaust the hydrogen source in its core and will begin to collapse. This causes the Sun to begin synthesizing heavier elements in the core. In parallel with the effort of fusing the remaining hydrogen into the shell surrounding the core. When this happens, the Sun's temperature will increase and the outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere will expand farther into space. The consequences of this will engulf the Earth."

Picture 1 of Why will the Earth never be 'swallowed' if one day the Sun turns into a black hole?

This phase will last about a billion years, before the Sun exhausts all the materials it can collect for energy generation. The outer shells will gradually peel off, leaving behind a tiny white dwarf with half the mass of the current Sun and about the same size as Earth.

When it runs out of energy, can the Sun become a black hole?

Once turned into a white dwarf due to energy exhaustion, the Sun will not be able to become a dangerous black hole . Simply because its size is too small. But in case the Sun turns into a black hole, what will happen to the Earth?

Black holes are objects with such strong gravity that not even light can escape them. The black hole will be there and absorb all the surrounding matter and this process will become stronger and stronger.

It is natural to assume that if the Sun suddenly became a black hole, the Earth would not escape. But in reality, black holes do not have a gravitational force beyond the force created by their mass. Their enormous gravitational pull comes from the fact that they are created by giant, supermassive self-extinguishing stars. If the Sun turns into a black hole, it will have the same mass as the current Sun.

Contrary to popular belief, black holes are not cosmic vacuum cleaners. If the Sun were suddenly replaced by a black hole with the same mass as it is today, the Earth's orbit around the Sun would not be changed because its gravitational pull would not be strong enough.

However, people may not need to be too concerned about this assumption. The reason is because immediately after the Sun turns into a white dwarf, the main heat source (geothermal processes taking place inside the planets) of all planets in the Solar System will disappear. Without that energy source, photosynthesis would stop immediately. Leading to the destruction of all life on Earth.

Update 03 May 2024
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