Physics
10 questions in the physics category.
| Question | Answer | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| What would happen if an asteroid hit the Earth? | It depends enormously on size — most burn up, a 20-metre one broke windows across a city, and a 10-kilometre one ended the dinosaurs. | Established science |
| What would happen if gravity disappeared? | The Earth itself would come apart — gravity is the only thing holding a planet together. | Speculative |
| What would happen if the Sun became a black hole? | Earth's orbit would not change at all — the mass would be the same. It would simply go dark and cold. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if you fell into a black hole? | Into a small one, tidal forces would stretch you apart before you arrived; into a supermassive one, you would cross the horizon without noticing. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if you fell into a hole through the Earth? | You would oscillate from one side to the other and back, with a one-way trip of about 38 minutes. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if you travelled at the speed of light? | You cannot — accelerating any mass to light speed requires infinite energy. Approaching it, time dilates dramatically. | Established science |
| What would happen if gravity doubled? | You would weigh twice as much, most tall structures would need rebuilding, and no bird larger than a sparrow could fly. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if you were shrunk to the size of an ant? | The square-cube law would break you: you would freeze, suffocate, and be unable to drink from a surface of water. | Reasoned extrapolation |
| What would happen if the speed of light were slower? | Chemistry, nuclear fusion and the mass-energy relationship would all change — stars would not work as they do. | Speculative |
| What would happen if a gamma-ray burst hit the Earth? | A nearby one aimed at us would strip a large fraction of the ozone layer within seconds, with the damage arriving as ultraviolet over the following years. | Reasoned extrapolation |
- What would happen if an asteroid hit the Earth? It depends enormously on size — most burn up, a 20-metre one broke windows across a city, and a 10-kilometre one ended the dinosaurs.
- What would happen if gravity disappeared? The Earth itself would come apart — gravity is the only thing holding a planet together.
- What would happen if the Sun became a black hole? Earth's orbit would not change at all — the mass would be the same. It would simply go dark and cold.
- What would happen if you fell into a black hole? Into a small one, tidal forces would stretch you apart before you arrived; into a supermassive one, you would cross the horizon without noticing.
- What would happen if you fell into a hole through the Earth? You would oscillate from one side to the other and back, with a one-way trip of about 38 minutes.
- What would happen if you travelled at the speed of light? You cannot — accelerating any mass to light speed requires infinite energy. Approaching it, time dilates dramatically.
- What would happen if gravity doubled? You would weigh twice as much, most tall structures would need rebuilding, and no bird larger than a sparrow could fly.
- What would happen if you were shrunk to the size of an ant? The square-cube law would break you: you would freeze, suffocate, and be unable to drink from a surface of water.
- What would happen if the speed of light were slower? Chemistry, nuclear fusion and the mass-energy relationship would all change — stars would not work as they do.
- What would happen if a gamma-ray burst hit the Earth? A nearby one aimed at us would strip a large fraction of the ozone layer within seconds, with the damage arriving as ultraviolet over the following years.