00:00What if we lived in a world where the moon and the sun exchanged their places?
00:06Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking.
00:09The consequences would be huge and catastrophic.
00:12But here's an interesting perspective.
00:14What if we survived in spite of everything?
00:17What would our life look like in this new world?
00:20And what would happen in the solar system?
00:22We're going to find out.
00:26Let's start with the moon.
00:27Did you know that it is the moon that causes the tides on Earth?
00:31Do you know this phenomenon that makes the ocean move forward and backward
00:34as if it were playing a beach volleyball game?
00:36We owe this to the gravitational force of our satellite.
00:40And thanks to the moon, the rotation of the Earth remains stable.
00:44It's pretty important if you don't want to end up like Uranus,
00:47who turns on its side.
00:49Poor little Uranus.
00:51In addition, it also serves as a shield,
00:53protecting us from some of the most harmful cosmic rays,
00:56asteroids and space debris.
00:59Like a real bodyguard.
01:02And without our satellite,
01:04we might not even exist to enjoy the good weather and make jokes.
01:08Some scientists think that the moon played a crucial role
01:12in the development of life on Earth.
01:14Without its gravitational attraction,
01:16our climate would be incredibly erratic.
01:19And according to them,
01:20the moon would even have redistributed water on our planet.
01:23And we all know what water means to life.
01:26As for the sun, we all know how important it is.
01:30It provides light, heat and energy to all planets.
01:34But like any good host on a party,
01:37the sun can sometimes be a little too...
01:39intense.
01:40Never forget that this is an extremely powerful and massive star
01:44with a surface temperature approaching 540 degrees Celsius.
01:50If we don't have our ozone layer,
01:52we would all burn instantly.
01:55The distance between Earth and the sun is about 150 million kilometers.
02:00Scientists have taken this distance
02:02and transformed it into a unit of measurement,
02:05an astronomical unit, or UA.
02:08The closest distance to which the Earth could approach the sun
02:12without being completely destroyed is about 0.9 UA.
02:17On the other hand, if we move too far away,
02:19more than 1.2 UA,
02:21our planet would turn into a snowball.
02:24So we were very lucky.
02:28In addition, the distance between Earth and the moon is about 0.02 UA,
02:34or 3.602 42 kilometers.
02:37It's really super close.
02:40Now that we know the importance of the sun and the moon
02:43and how much their position affects our world,
02:46let's try to exchange them.
02:48The result can't be that bad.
02:51First of all, let's imagine for a moment
02:53that the sun is in place of the moon.
02:55You probably already know what would happen to us.
03:00The intense heat and the sun's radiation
03:02would be like the worst sauna in the world.
03:05The temperature on Earth would increase super fast.
03:08Any form of life would instantly turn into a pile of ashes.
03:14But the destruction wouldn't stop there.
03:16The atmosphere and the oceans would be swept away by the solar winds,
03:20leaving the planet exposed and vulnerable to radiation
03:23and particles coming from the sun.
03:26It would be like a huge space hair dryer,
03:29at full power, blowing everything on Earth at once.
03:33Forget the melting of the ice caps,
03:35the entire planet would be nothing but a huge puddle.
03:40But this is a hypothesis based on science.
03:43What a nuisance.
03:44Now, let's imagine that we survived in one way or another
03:47to this disaster.
03:49For example, with the help of a super advanced technology
03:52that would prevent us from getting burnt.
03:55First of all, even if our planet managed to survive,
03:58the situation would still be pretty horrible
04:01because the sun would continue to emit
04:03much more heat and energy than the moon.
04:06And then, unlike the moon,
04:08which goes through periods of darkness,
04:10the sun has a constant source of energy
04:13thanks to nuclear fusion.
04:15So, at least, we wouldn't have to worry about getting cold,
04:18but we would sweat abundantly in our sleep.
04:23Of course, all this heat would have serious consequences
04:26on our ecosystems.
04:28Plants and animals should adapt to survive
04:31and we would see major changes
04:33in the way life works on Earth.
04:36Imagine the confusion of nocturnal animals.
04:39Without the moon,
04:40they would have no idea how to navigate and hunt.
04:44So, what would we do in this excessively hot new world?
04:48Well, maybe we would build very sophisticated greenhouse
04:51that would trap all this heat.
04:53Or we would use large mirrors
04:55and other reflective surfaces
04:57to regulate the amount of light the Earth would receive.
05:02Then, we have the gravity of the sun.
05:05We said earlier that the gravitational force of the moon
05:08is exactly what it takes to stabilize the Earth's orbit.
05:11So, if we replaced it with a very big star,
05:14things would get pretty crazy.
05:16We would witness extreme changes in the seasons,
05:19the climate,
05:20and all kinds of things related to the weather.
05:23Our daily life would be a bit like
05:25trying to dance on a foot during an earthquake.
05:29The Earth would start spinning on itself extremely fast.
05:32Our days would be shorter,
05:34our nights longer,
05:35and it would be chaos for working hours and birthdays.
05:39Is there a way to correct this?
05:42Hypothetically,
05:43we could use gigantic spaceships
05:46or other technologies
05:48to artificially adjust the Earth's orbit and rotation.
05:51For example,
05:52by launching rockets or rocket launchers
05:55that would slowly push our planet
05:57towards a more stable and coherent new orbit.
06:02But that's not all.
06:03All this gravity would affect our tides in a spectacular way.
06:07We would have waves so high
06:09that surfers would need diving bottles
06:12to practice their sport.
06:14And imagine yourself
06:15piloting a boat in the middle of a hurricane
06:18while rowing.
06:22The Moon mixes nutrients in the ocean
06:24and is a great help to marine life.
06:27But if we exchanged the Sun and the Moon,
06:30these rich and full of life waters
06:32would disappear very quickly.
06:34The ocean would become a soup without life,
06:36with nothing but seaweed
06:38and plankton to keep us company.
06:40We would have to eat seaweed sandwiches
06:44and drink water to survive.
06:46And let's be realistic,
06:47no one would want a world without sushi.
06:52So, what to do?
06:54We could try to create artificial tides
06:57or imitate the gravitational pull of the Moon on the ocean.
07:02For example,
07:03by using pumps or other mechanisms
07:05that would move large volumes of water
07:07and create a tide effect.
07:09Or we could try to help marine life
07:11adapt to the new ocean,
07:13less rich in nutrients.
07:14Maybe by developing pisciculture or aquaculture.
07:20Finally, let's not forget radiation.
07:22The Sun is a real radiation plant.
07:25It could seriously disrupt our health
07:28and our electronic devices.
07:30Do you think your phone is fragile?
07:32Imagine what it would become
07:34during a huge solar eruption.
07:38We would therefore need a very advanced protection technology.
07:42Materials capable of resisting
07:44temperatures higher than the strongest of red peppers
07:48and powerful enough magnetic fields
07:50to deflect charged particles.
07:52Oh yes, and tons of sunscreen.
07:56In short, if we replace the Moon with the Sun
07:59and if we miraculously manage
08:01to avoid the big disaster,
08:03our world would be completely different
08:05from the one we know.
08:06But the Earth would not be the only one
08:08to feel these effects.
08:10What would happen to the rest of the solar system?
08:15First, if the Sun,
08:17with its powerful gravitational attraction,
08:19replaced the Moon,
08:21the orbits of other planets would be seriously disrupted.
08:25Our neighbors would be projected in all directions
08:27like self-tapping sticks.
08:31And they would also suffer from the burning personality of the Sun.
08:35Like us, they would have to face radiation
08:38and charged particles.
08:41Finally, the magnetic field of the Sun is incredibly powerful
08:45and if it took the place of the Moon,
08:47the other planets would be forced to dance to its rhythm.
08:50This would cause electric storms everywhere,
08:53auroras and other completely crazy effects.
08:58And what would happen to the Moon itself?
09:00Alas, its reign in the center of our solar system
09:03would not last very long.
09:05It is very likely that it would start orbiting around the Sun
09:08and be swallowed up by the latter
09:10or that it would simply fly away from us.
09:15So there you go,
09:16our little cosmic farce went terribly wrong.
09:19But it was fictitious.
09:21And we can be grateful that this scenario
09:23is physically impossible.
09:25So let's continue to enjoy the Moon and the Sun,
09:27which give us life at ideal distances.
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