"What if gravity suddenly disappeared?"

Remember that unsatisfactory feeling as a kid when you’d try to jump in the air as high as possible, and something brings you back to the ground?

Well, that something is your Mother.No wait, it’s everybody’s mother, which is Gravity. As your mother, it's always there, it never changes, and you can’t break its rules. But that's for the better! If one day, the Earth's gravity disappeared, the consequences would be flat out disastrous. Especially for mom. But first, let's figure out what gravity is. Simply, it's a force that draws atoms toward each other. For example, you take two tennis balls and put them on the table. Some gravitational attraction already exists between them, but it's so imperceptible that you'd never notice it. However, if you replace these tennis balls with two big chunks of metal and use special equipment, you'll be able to measure the attraction between the pieces, even though it would be extremely small and, therefore, really-really hard to detect. But let's take the Earth. Our planet is a big-big number of atoms, crammed together. That's why its gravitational pull is very real and very perceptible. In other words, gravity depends on the mass, which is, in turn, related to the matter. The more matter you have, the bigger the mass is. And the bigger the mass is, the stronger the objects gravitational pull is.

"What if gravity suddenly disappeared?"

Well, why does that matter ..ha?
You might have noticed that the gravity on our planet never changes, right?
That's because the mass of the Earth always remains the same. Should huge chunks of the planet get ripped out from under your feet, the gravity would gradually change as well. But happily, any changes in the Earth's mass that could potentially influence gravity aren't likely to happen any time soon.

But straying into the “Dark Side”, what if we forgot all about physics and imagined that one day, our planet would give off a terrifying “crack”, and gravity would just disappear?
The most obvious outcome would be floating. I mean that you, the bed you've been sleeping on, your alarm clock, and your cup of unfinished tea would instantly rise into the air. At first, you might be surprised, and the whole situation might even seem funny. After all, if you were inside, you’d simply float gently upward until you bump into the ceiling. But your sense of wonder wouldn't last long. As you know, the Earth is spinning around its axis at a velocity of just over a thousand miles per hour at the equator. That's why, if the gravity got switched off, anything unattached to the ground would simply fly off into space. People unlucky enough to be outside when the gravity disappears would be gone in the blink of an eye. Those people inside buildings would be safer, but not for long. It's true that man-made structures are supposed to be firmly rooted to the ground. And they would, indeed, stay put after the gravity vanishes. But sooner or later, they’d also give way. The same would happen with trees, however big and sturdy they may seem. Furthermore, the Earth would lose one of its best friends - the Moon. The only thing keeping the Moon from floating away and keeping our planet's natural satellite in orbit is the Earth's gravity. But even the loss of the Moon wouldn't affect you as badly as the loss of water and air! The atmosphere and all the water on the Earth, including oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers, are kept in place by gravity. That's why, without this force, the atmosphere would immediately start to drift off into space. That means there’d eventually be no air to breathe. This is looking bad. Water would begin to depart as well, along with its inhabitants. Imagine sharks, whales, and fish encased in bubbles of water and drifting off into space– and the bewildered expressions on their faces! The dolphins would be singing “So long, and thanks for all the fish!”Later, when life on Earth would cease to exist completely (what with no air and water), the lack of gravity would finally take its toll on the planet itself. Without the main force holding things together, it would likely break into pieces and float off into space. A sad scenario, I would say. However, it's so improbable that you might not even consider it ever happening. But anyway, write your ideas about the things that would change should gravity disappear one day down in the comments below! But you know us on the “Bright Side”, we can’t leave well enough, or bad enough alone.

"What if gravity suddenly disappeared?"

So what if gravity, on the contrary, became stronger, and not only on the Earth but everywhere in the Universe?
Would it influence your life?
Yes, yes it would, even if the difference was just 5%! Look, the Earth's orbit depends on a delicate balance that exists between gravity pulling it toward the Sun and velocity carrying it away into space. If the gravity changed even slightly, it’d completely disrupt the existing balance, and the Earth would move into a new orbit. As a result, our planet would start traveling about 10% closer to the Sun. It would trigger even more disastrous climate changes which, in turn, would lead to a lack of food and other serious problems. The Sun also has a balance of its own. Gravity pulls it together while the pressure coming from the inside does everything to tear the star apart. Now, imagine the gravity becoming just a tiny bit stronger: the equilibrium would be totally wrecked! Inevitably, the hydrogen gas from the surface of the sun would gravitate toward its core and fuse into helium. This explosive process would unleash colossal amounts of energy. On the other hand, in the most optimistic scenario, this energy wouldn't reach the subsurface, and you wouldn't notice anything here on Earth. What's more, you might not even notice another, even more, vital change, because it would take place beneath the surface of our planet. You see, the Earth's core must withstand an absurd load 24/7. And this load is the weight of the whole planet, which equals approximately 6.5 sextillion tons (if you’re counting, that's 21 zeros!)And then, out of nowhere - wham-bam! - this weight becomes 5% heavier! The poor old core, unable to hold the sudden increase in load, would collapse inward, terminating the rest of the planet. Buh bye! On the other hand, Earth might avoid such a dreadful outcome. According to some estimates, the surface might just drop 6 to 12 miles. But even this wouldn't save the inhabitants of the planet: however significant the collapse would be, the Earth's crust would buckle and crack. As a result, the heat coming from the Earth's core (which reaches a toasty 10,800 degrees) would burn everything on the surface. In the worst-case scenario, the whole surface of the planet would eventually melt away. Bush bye again!

"What if gravity suddenly disappeared?"

Wow, if just 5% of added gravity would cause such dramatic consequences, ooh, what would happen if the force was doubled?
One word: Squish! Yep, everything on the planet would instantly become twice as heavy as it used to be. It would probably be too much stress, even for tall and strong trees, let alone postman-made structures. Bridges wouldn't stand any chance; neither would large buildings, such as skyscrapers. Smaller houses might remain standing for some time, but they’d need to be reinforced. Anything in the air, be it a bird or an aircraft, would immediately crash to the ground. Flyers wouldn’t be so frequent anymore. Experiments in centrifuges show that people can easily tolerate two times the Earth's gravity for up to 22 hours with no harm to their health. As for the long-term effects of the increased gravity, they would be much more serious. Your body would experience great stress, starting with your skeleton and joints, unable to support your new weight, to your muscles, struggling with even the smallest of movements. Plus, such strong gravity would challenge your heart because it would have to work extra hard to keep you going. With more gravity, the number of unstable elements beneath the Earth's surface would increase, and it would lead to increased volcanic activity and excessive heat. Even dormant volcanoes that been sleeping for thousands of years would wake up and start changing the surface of the planet. But again, you wouldn't have to keep up with these challenges for too long. If gravity became twice as strong as it is now, the Earth would spiral into the sun at a dizzying rate.

Now wasn’t that fun?
Yeah, enough of the Dark Side.

BRIGHT SITE OF LIFE ONE