how long would it take for earth to know that the Sun had died or is done shining? (in minutes or seconds)?
604274
It takes light 8 minutes (plus or minus seconds) to travel from the Sun to the Earth. So if the sun 'Died' this second, it will take 8 minutes till we know about it, i.e. the lights go out and the heating is turned off.\n\nHopefully we will still have the stars and moon to merrily sooth us into our freezing tombs.
189425
It's about 93 million miles. It takes a sunbeam about eight minutes to reach earth once it leaves the sun. The moon, by contrast, is about 240,000 miles away, but I'm not positive about that exact number. I am positive about the sun, though.
339821
93 million miles .. a few light seconds
708208
The sun is a star and so it will have its time when it will die, so I believe that if something can die then it must be alive.
221827
by using the speed of light. As the Sun emits the light, it takes time to reach Earth. The speed and time taken is calculated to get the distance between the two. It takes about 7 minutes for the light to reach Earth. So looking at the sun from Earth is looking at the Sun 7 minutes ago!
220002
its done by counting how long it takes for light from the planet takes reach here. usually between a period of dark and light. same as the sun
6601
Acording to Kepler's first law of planetary motion, all objects obit other objects in eliptical paths.  This means that the distance from the earth to the sun is not constant.  The average distance is 149600 km or 92 957.1304 miles.  This means that it would take 1239.42 hours or 51 Days 15 hours.
562158
What you're looking for is called "sunshine duration"!\n\nTry the NASA search I've saved for you here:\nhttp://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/KeywordSearch/Freetext.do?KeywordPath=&Portal=GCMD&MetadataType=0&Freetext=sunshine+duration&action.x=0&action.y=0&action=search
480364
Yup. The latest will be 5 billion years from now, give or take a few hundred thousand. By then the sun will either:\n\n1) engulf our planet (very unlikely, but will come close enough to vaporize our planet)\n2) Die and not engulf or vaporize our planet and within days our atmosphere will freeze and fall to the earth in the form of ice.
516804
We don't know. People used to think it was 4 seconds, but now studies are showing it's longer. They probably run tests. But who cares for one, and two how do they know for certain.
168576
- The Sun is so large, you could fit over one million Earths inside it.\n- The Sun consumes four million tons of hydrogen every second. Even so, it's so vast that our star has enough fuel to keep it shining for another five billion years.\n- The Sun's energy output is estimated to be 386 billion, billion megawatts. So in 15 minutes our Sun radiates as much energy as mankind consumes in all forms, during an entire year.\n\n- The sun is fascinating ! :)
1120914
I believe it would be instantaneous, but it's a fascinating question.  Perhaps the speed of light, because there are those who argue that gravity is another form of energy generally, and the whole "unified field" thing that I confess I do not understand at all.  \n\nI suppose part of the question is how the sun could "suddenly vanish" in the first place.  Would it in fact vanish instantaneously, or at the speed of light?  Even if it fell into a black hole, that would be an event, and events have a place in space/time.  That we would not know it had vanished until the light stopped coming to us some minute or two later (speed of light for 93 million miles), because of the light, then would gravity be following with that light?  The light is, after all, energy and therefore -- says Einstein -- matter, and that's what responds to gravity . . . \n\nGeeze, you make my head hurt with these puzzles.  I hope some really heavy-duty physicist takes a shot at this question!
411460
nope... it would have a delay.  I would guesstimate that it would take about 30-45 seconds for the light to come on.   I am just guessing here.
392956
It's not the length of the second; it's the number of days it takes the earth to go around the sun.  It takes about 365.26 days.  If the second were lengthened, and clocks stayed as they are, eventually it would be dark at noon.
758844
Well if it's directly at the sun, then I'd say no more than 10-15 seconds, but if you're just staring, but not exactly directly at it, I'd say roughly around 20-25 minutes.
255863
About 4 to 20 minutes.\nThe distance between them can fluctuate between 0,5 to 2,5 AU.\nAn AU = the distance between Earth and  the Sun.
364195
None of us would have to worry about what we going to do the next day because we would all be dead.\n\nWhat would happen if the Earth stopped spinning?\nThe probability for such an event is practically zero in the next few billion years. If the Earth stopped spinning suddenly, the atmosphere would still be in motion with the Earth's original 1100 mile per hour rotation speed at the equator. All of the land masses would be scoured clean of anything not attached to bedrock. This means rocks, topsoil, trees, buildings, your pet dog, and so on, would be swept away into the atmosphere. \n\nIf the process happened gradually over billions of years, the situation would be very different, and it is this possibility which is the most likely as the constant torquing of the Sun and Moon upon the Earth finally reaches it's conclusion. If the rotation period slowed to 1 rotation every 365 days a condition called 'sun synchronous', every spot in the Earth would have permanent daytime or nighttime all year long. This is similar to the situation on the Moon where for 2 weeks the front-side is illuminated by the Sun, and for 2 weeks the back side is illuminated. This situation for the Earth is not the condition of 'stopped' rotation, but it is as close as the laws of physics will let the Earth get. \n\n \n\nIf it stopped spinning completely...not even once every 365 days, you would get 1/2 year daylight and 1/2 year nightime. During daytime for 6 months, the surface temperature would depend on your latitude, being far hotter that it is now at the equator than at the poles where the light rays are more slanted and heating efficiency is lower. This long-term temperature gradient would alter the atmospheric wind circulation pattern so that the air would move from the equator to the poles rather than in wind systems parallel to the equator like they are now. The yearly change in the Sun's position in the sky would now be just its seasonal motion up and down the sky towards the south due to the orbit of the Earth and its axial tilt. As you moved along constant lines of Earth latitude, you would see the elevation of the Sun increase or decrease in the sky just as we now see the elevation of the Sun change from a single point on the Earth due to the Earth's daily rotation. \n\nFor example, if you were at a latitude of +24 degrees North in the Summer and at a longitude where the Sun was exactly overhead, it would slide gradually to the horizon as Fall approached, but since the Sun has moved 90 degrees in its orbit, it would now be due west. Then as we approach Winter, you would now be located on the dark side of the Earth, and would have to travel in longitude to a location 180 degrees around the Earth to see the Sun 1/2 way up the sky because in the Winter, the Sun is 48 degrees south of its summer location in the sky. It's a little confusing, but if you use a globe of the Earth and orient it the right way, you can see how all this works out. \n\nAs for other effects, presumably the magnetic field of the Earth is generated by a dynamo effect that involves its rotation. If the Earth stopped rotating, it's magnetic field would no longer be regenerated and it would decay away to some low, residual value due to the very small component which is 'fossilized' in its iron-rich rocks. There would be no more 'northern lights' and the Van Allen radiation belts would probably vanish, as would our protection from cosmic rays and other high-energy particles. This is a significant biohazard.