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Q&A How long would a planet that losses its gravity take to break up?

The planet will instantaneously explode. The Earth has a gravitational binding potential of about $2.25\times10^{32}$ joules, or the weekly energy output of the Sun. This energy also currently be...

posted 4y ago by Whitecold‭  ·  edited 4y ago by HDE 226868‭

Answer
#1: Post edited by user avatar HDE 226868‭ · 2020-06-02T18:14:42Z (almost 4 years ago)
Fixed formatting.
  • <p><strong>The planet will instantaneously explode.</strong></p>
  • <p>The earth has a gravitational binding potential of about 2.25×10^32 joules, or the weekly energy output of the sun.
  • This energy also currently being counterbalanced by potential energy of the compression of rock in the earth which prevents the earth collapsing to a point.
  • Without gravity, it will all be released at once since the rock of the earth is no longer being compressed. </p>
  • <p>Given the energy scales involved, interesting high energy physics will happen before the earth disappears in a cloud of hot gas. For all intents and purposes that will be instantaneous.</p>
  • <p><strong>The planet will instantaneously explode.</strong></p>
  • <p>The Earth has a gravitational binding potential of about $2.25\times10^{32}$ joules, or the weekly energy output of the Sun.
  • This energy also currently being counterbalanced by potential energy of the compression of rock in the earth which prevents the earth collapsing to a point.
  • Without gravity, it will all be released at once since the rock of the earth is no longer being compressed. </p>
  • <p>Given the energy scales involved, interesting high energy physics will happen before the Earth disappears in a cloud of hot gas. For all intents and purposes that will be instantaneous.</p>