If natural disasters hit every five minutes, life would feel like a rollercoaster of chaos. Just when you catch your breath from one, bam, another one hits. Emergency services would be on perpetual overtime, and disaster preparedness might become a daily routine. It would be like living in a never-ending disaster movie with no time for a sequel. And what if our planet shifted away from the Sun? How soon would we freeze completely?
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00:00 If there were cataclysms on Earth every 5 minutes, living conditions on our planet would
00:05 be almost the same as 4.5 billion years ago.
00:10 Back then, seas and oceans boiled, lightning struck everywhere, tectonic plates changed
00:16 their shape, lava flowed from volcanoes, and worse, no Internet.
00:22 The Earth resembled a vast boiling cauldron where life was gradually being created.
00:27 If it starts to boil again, this cauldron could destroy almost all life on the planet.
00:33 Hmm, consecutive cataclysms.
00:34 Won't hurt to pretend.
00:36 Let's imagine, shall we?
00:38 Good morning!
00:40 You wake up in a small underground bunker.
00:42 The seismic sensor indicates that a 7-point earthquake will start in a few minutes.
00:47 You pack a huge waterproof backpack and go upstairs.
00:51 The underground bunker is protected from seismic activity.
00:54 Earth moves with the ground, so you're safe here.
00:58 But you need to leave the shelter because supplies are low.
01:01 Also, yesterday, you picked up a radio signal telling all survivors to go south immediately.
01:07 The coordinates they gave aren't far from your location.
01:10 You have to hurry, though, before the landscape changes again.
01:14 You open the hatch and find yourself in the middle of the desert.
01:18 The sun is almost invisible beyond the gray sky.
01:21 The ground is shaking, but you're not afraid.
01:24 There are no houses or buildings, nothing to fall on you.
01:27 You keep your balance perfectly, and the earthquake doesn't knock you off your feet.
01:32 It's like jumping on a trampoline.
01:34 The only danger is the deep chasms in the ground, but you can easily jump over them.
01:39 After such an extreme morning warm-up, you decide to have breakfast.
01:43 You take a tin can out of your backpack.
01:46 You have a few minutes before the next disaster, so you eat and remember how your great-grandfather
01:51 told you how all this started.
01:54 Before all of this, the planet was divided into territories called countries.
01:58 Millions of people lived in them, and then something terrible happened.
02:02 The tectonic plates started to move, and the air temperature and atmospheric pressure began
02:07 to rapidly change.
02:09 In one day, earthquakes destroyed entire cities.
02:13 Tsunamis and floods washed away the remaining ruins.
02:17 Volcanic ash blocked the passage of sunlight.
02:20 Ice fires destroyed almost all vegetation, and eruptions poisoned the air.
02:25 Only a few people managed to adapt to such harsh conditions, and you are a lucky duck
02:30 to be one of them.
02:32 As you finish your breakfast, you're distracted by another ground tremor.
02:36 Time to move on!
02:37 Many people travel around the world alone, as they consider it a safer way of life.
02:42 Some people form small communes, but no one ever stays in one place for too long.
02:48 Your whole life is in motion, but you don't panic.
02:51 One of the main rules during natural disasters is to remain calm, so all survivors have steel
02:56 nerves and excellent physical training.
03:00 You run a few miles south and suddenly smell something strange.
03:04 You put on a gas mask.
03:06 The earthquake has created a limnic eruption.
03:09 Natural carbon dioxide is released from the ground to the surface.
03:13 You feel comfortable in a gas mask, but can't run fast while wearing it.
03:18 Far up ahead, you see a green forest, a rare place that was not affected by fires.
03:23 You take off the gas mask and go to the tree to take shelter in the shade from the scorching
03:29 sun.
03:30 This green area is rich in vegetation.
03:32 Colorful flowers, strawberries, and many other berries grow here.
03:36 But you're concerned.
03:38 Such fertile land comes from being near volcanoes.
03:41 It spews underground magma rich in vitamins and minerals, so vegetation grows.
03:47 You can see a high mountain in the distance.
03:49 This is the volcano.
03:51 An underground push occurs again and provokes an eruption.
03:55 You gather strawberries and run away from this place as far as possible.
04:00 Lava pours from the volcano's mouth and makes a fire in the forest.
04:04 You unhook a folding scooter with a motor from your backpack and drive away from the
04:09 fiery mountain as fast as you can.
04:12 The sky is covered with volcanic ash.
04:14 But this is not for long.
04:16 A strong wind flows, grows with each passing second.
04:20 You realize a hurricane is moving in your direction.
04:23 You take out a small shovel and dig a hole in the ground.
04:26 The soil is dry, but you have enough strength to dig a small ravine in a couple of minutes.
04:32 You dive into the shelter and cover yourself with a protective tent.
04:36 The hurricane blows the volcanic ash in different directions, and the air becomes clear again.
04:41 But the fire doesn't stop.
04:44 The wind spreads through the forest, you get out of the ravine and put on the gas mask
04:48 again.
04:49 There's a lot of smoke around, and it's unbearably hot.
04:52 You know the hurricane couldn't just appear without any reason.
04:56 Hurricanes are formed when warm moist air collides with the sea surface and rises to
05:00 the sky, so there's water nearby.
05:03 Great, because you're thirsty and want to cool down.
05:07 A loud sound erupts behind you.
05:09 You turn around.
05:10 A massive wave of water approaches the fire.
05:14 Without panic, you take your life jacket out of your backpack, remove your gas mask, and
05:19 put on a diving mask and fins.
05:21 The wave blows you off your feet, but you don't drown.
05:25 Over the years of survival, you have learned to swim very well.
05:29 You grab a passing tree and wait patiently for the flood to be replaced by another natural
05:34 disaster.
05:36 For five minutes, you sail under a black stormy sky that sparkles with lightning.
05:41 Despite the waves, you try to row south.
05:44 It's getting pretty cold.
05:46 You finally see the shore, but this is not a land, but ice.
05:50 It's becoming colder by the minute.
05:53 The temperature drops below zero very quickly, and although there's no snow, the cold is
05:58 becoming unbearable.
06:01 Air frost appears on the ground, the grass, and the trees, and ice forms on bodies of
06:07 water at an incredible rate.
06:10 Shivering people all over the planet raise their eyes to the sky, and their jaws drop
06:16 in disbelief.
06:17 The sun has become twice as small as it used to be.
06:22 It now looks like a distant speck, and it won't be able to heat the Earth any longer.
06:28 But the worst thing is, there's a huge blazing rock coming right at the horrified spectators
06:33 from the sky, and the impact with that thing will undoubtedly do a lot of damage.
06:39 Okay, let's go back to our objective reality.
06:43 The Earth is exactly in the sweet spot of our solar system.
06:47 It's neither too close nor too far from the sun, making the temperature on our planet
06:52 not just tolerable, but rather pleasant.
06:57 Scientists often call Venus, the second planet from the sun, our Earth's evil twin, because
07:03 it's so hot and inhospitable that no life is possible on it.
07:08 Of course, there are thick clouds in its atmosphere that rain acid, and the greenhouse gases raise
07:14 the temperature on the surface to unbearable values.
07:17 But even if Venus didn't have those, nothing would still be able to live there because
07:23 of the proximity to the sun.
07:25 If there was any liquid water, it would evaporate too quickly, leaving life no chance to develop.
07:33 On the other hand, Mars, going next in line after Earth, is a bit too far away from the
07:39 sun, which makes it cold and lonely.
07:42 The temperature on its surface is below freezing, and it never warms up enough for water to
07:47 stay liquid for long.
07:49 That's not to mention the lack of atmosphere on the red planet, the element that provides
07:54 the Earth with breathable air.
07:57 So if our planet shifted closer to or farther away from the sun, its temperature would either
08:04 rise or fall respectively.
08:07 A few hundred miles wouldn't make much difference.
08:10 The circling of Earth around the sun is uneven anyway, and we constantly get nearer to our
08:16 star or fly a bit away from it.
08:20 The distance that would matter is measured in millions of miles.
08:24 And yeah, just like I showed you at the beginning of this video, we'd see the sun a lot smaller
08:29 than we do now if we went that far.
08:32 The temperatures might not fall at the exact moment of the shift, as there would still
08:37 be some warmth left.
08:39 But in the following winter, our planet would probably stay cold forever.
08:45 The oceans would be covered with ice, and the overall sea level would drop.
08:50 And ultimately, the ice would reflect more of the sun's heat back into the atmosphere
08:55 and space, not allowing the surface of our planet to get the necessary warmth.
09:02 And more ice means less water vapor in the atmosphere.
09:06 Water vapor captures heat too, creating clouds, so the colder it is, the less rain.
09:12 The cold and the lack of rain would not let any plants survive for long, so the areas
09:18 of icy and barren landscape would grow fast, leaving only the areas along the banks of
09:24 rivers intact for a while.
09:28 After some time, the rivers would stop running too, either frozen or dried out because of
09:34 losing their sources, lakes and seas, which would, of course, freeze as well.
09:39 Any life dwelling near them would disappear, plants first, and with them, everything else,
09:46 since plants produce both food and breathable air.
09:49 And with that, the Earth would become a frozen wasteland.
09:55 As for the giant blazing rock I mentioned, it was an asteroid coming from outer space
10:00 because of the shift of our planet's orbit.
10:03 Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, acts as a natural shield for us against space
10:09 rocks.
10:10 It has a huge mass, and most asteroids flinging from outer space get caught in its gravity
10:15 and fall on its surface.
10:17 There's no life possible on Jupiter, and its surface is gaseous, so asteroids tend
10:23 to disappear in it without a trace.
10:26 Still, some manage to get past Jupiter, where Mars comes into play.
10:32 It also contributes to our defense by holding the asteroid belt between itself and Jupiter
10:38 in place.
10:39 The two planets' combined mass creates a gravitational field that doesn't allow the asteroids from
10:45 the belt to fly in random directions, hitting everything in their path.
10:49 If there was no Mars between us and the belt, we'd be used to meteor showers almost more
10:55 than actual rains.
10:59 Say the Earth has replaced Mars in its orbit, and now we're hundreds of millions of miles
11:05 farther away from the Sun.
11:07 The mass of the Earth is more or less similar to that of Mars, so the asteroid belt is still
11:12 in its place.
11:14 The temperatures will still fall, though, and life will soon go extinct.
11:19 But if Mars stayed where it is, and the Earth just shifted away, it would be a recipe for
11:25 disaster.
11:26 There's no chance the planets would orbit the Sun at the same rate because their mass
11:31 is not equal.
11:32 At some point, they would collide with each other.
11:36 Taking their speed into account, they'd both crack and shatter, perhaps creating another
11:41 asteroid belt in our solar system.
11:44 It would be no more hopeful for us if the Earth decided to jump closer to the Sun.
11:49 Apart from the star seeming more like a giant pitiless blazing ball in the sky, its heat
11:55 would melt the glaciers on our planet, making sea levels rise abruptly.
12:01 The water would flood major parts of the continents, and more surfaces of the planet would be covered
12:06 with water, which means more heat absorption.
12:10 That would bring about a further rise in the temperature.
12:13 Also, those large bodies of water would evaporate like crazy, releasing tons of water vapor
12:19 and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
12:23 Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that absorbs heat, and so does water vapor.
12:29 Together, they would trap more and more of the Sun's warmth, creating thick, roiling
12:34 clouds in the sky, almost like on Venus, but without the acid.
12:39 And that thick blanket of clouds would also contribute to heating the surface of our planet.
12:46 In the end, the entire Earth would heat up so much that life on its surface would become
12:51 unbearable for most.
12:53 Now, you wake up one morning and watch the news while having your morning coffee.
12:57 "They did it again!
12:59 Those scientists!" the news anchor yells on the TV.
13:03 A report was released a few days ago that the Moon is moving further away from Earth's
13:08 orbit.
13:09 Its distance extends 2 inches per year.
13:12 Over the past 2,000 years, it's drifted a total of 260 feet.
13:17 This isn't too daunting of a distance, but the news has still made people panicked and
13:21 concerned.
13:22 They rally together around the planet, uniting to try and stop the Moon from escaping Earth's
13:28 orbit, even though it won't actually leave the orbit for over a billion years.
13:33 But everyone was focused on the past benefits of the Moon.
13:37 It's obvious life on Earth as we know it wouldn't have evolved without its existence.
13:42 The Moon is controlling the tides and the molecules in the atmosphere.
13:47 Without it, humans, in particular, wouldn't have evolved.
13:50 So with an appreciation of the Moon, the top brass ordered the best scientists to come
13:55 up with a solution to push the Moon closer towards the Earth.
14:00 A giant thruster engine was built on the dark side of the Moon.
14:04 It was ignited, and the thrusts tried to push forward, but the startup power wasn't strong
14:09 enough to push the Moon.
14:11 Instead, it tilted the Moon's axis, rotating it slowly.
14:16 As the Moon rotated, the scientists hurried to turn it off before the engine reached its
14:21 full power as it was headed off course.
14:24 The brass didn't accept this and ordered them to continue with the objective.
14:29 The scientists insisted the math wasn't correct and didn't know exactly what may
14:33 occur.
14:35 Their concerns were ignored, and they watched as the engine's power increased.
14:40 The engine slowly pushed the Moon, the distance reducing.
14:44 But as it was provided at the wrong moment, the angle it was aimed at would provide complications.
14:51 The thrust and gravity from the Earth ensured the Moon followed the orbit at a reduced distance.
14:58 But with the combination of the initial thrust on an indirect angle, the Moon was directed
15:03 away from the Earth, quickly moving further off its trajectory on a path to leave the
15:08 orbit altogether.
15:12 As you finish your breakfast and turn the TV off, you go outside to look at the Moon.
15:17 It sits high above, seemingly fine.
15:20 Surely, the news anchor was just exaggerating.
15:25 You go to work.
15:26 The issues of the Moon are now just an afterthought.
15:29 Even if it was true, how could it possibly affect your day?
15:34 The morning feels normal, just another day at the office, as it turns out.
15:39 During your lunch break, you head into town and notice on your way that the wind is picking
15:44 up, getting stronger and colder.
15:47 It must be a storm approaching.
15:49 You quickly check on the Moon.
15:51 It appears smaller, about half the size of what it was this morning.
15:56 But it's midday, so it's supposed to be that size, isn't it?
16:01 After you finish your meal at the restaurant, you leave to find it's becoming darker.
16:06 The wind is much stronger than earlier, but there are no storm clouds in the sky.
16:11 People in the streets are pointing towards the sky, shocked at something, probably an
16:16 eclipse.
16:17 As people begin running in the streets frantically, you look above and can't see the Moon.
16:23 Confused by everything, you decide to head home for the day.
16:27 When you arrive home, you turn on the TV.
16:31 The news anchor, who is now more serious than earlier, explains that the Moon has left the
16:36 Earth's orbit altogether and is flying off somewhere into space.
16:41 The loss of the Moon means the daily cycle has changed.
16:45 Now there are only 6 to 12 hours of sunlight a day, and over a thousand days per year.
16:50 "I only have to work half as much," you say excitedly, pumping your arms in the air.
16:57 The lack of the Moon creates a completely different world.
17:00 The pull of the Moon's gravity is what keeps the Earth in a place at 23.5 degrees angle,
17:06 ensuring the weather patterns and normal days that we're accustomed to.
17:11 Baffled by all the scientific information, you go outside to just confirm you aren't
17:16 being pranked.
17:18 The shorter working week seems too good to be true.
17:21 As you look out into the sky, you notice the stars are brighter than you have ever seen.
17:27 You can clearly see the outline of the Milky Way's arms.
17:30 The stars are far more numerous than you remember, with Venus glowing far brighter than them
17:36 all.
17:37 It's a beautiful sight, but you're not sure whether a clearer night sky was worth the
17:42 Moon's removal.
17:43 You have never been interested in astronomy.
17:46 You decide to go to bed.
17:48 It's a good idea to adjust to the new night and day cycle.
17:52 You set your alarm for 2 hours.
17:55 That should be enough, you say to yourself happily.
17:58 Tomorrow is Saturday, after all.
18:00 You need to get up early to go surfing.
18:02 Gotta catch those high-tide waves!
18:05 You wake up, get your things together, and drive to the beach.
18:08 The news on the radio explains some issues about how the Earth is now more defenseless
18:14 to asteroids without the Moon.
18:16 Then they talk about some issues with the tides.
18:19 Talking about how the tide is now one-third the size it used to be before.
18:25 You're unsure how this could affect the waves.
18:27 Maybe it means they will be larger.
18:30 You park at the beach, grab your board, and look towards where the surf should be.
18:35 It should be high tide, but the sea is somehow a lot further away than normal.
18:41 You shrug off the hurdle of having to walk towards the water.
18:44 After a long, enthusiastic walk towards the gnarly waves, your mood changes as you approach,
18:51 staring blankly at the tiny waves.
18:54 Upset, you head home.
18:56 While driving, you listen to the news and pay more attention to the information provided.
19:02 In place of structured seasons, there are only erratic weather patterns.
19:07 Winds are faster and stronger, creating more powerful storms.
19:11 And in some places, there are just stagnant conditions.
19:15 The equator is no longer always warm.
19:18 The poles aren't constantly cold.
19:21 The depths of water shrink.
19:23 Tides only adjust to the Sun's gravity, reduced to a third of the pre-Moon depths.
19:29 Throughout the world, the seas change in altitude, shrinking at the poles, and the bulge of water
19:35 around the equator shifts.
19:37 That's it for today!
19:38 So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
19:43 friends!
19:44 Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!