“THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU!”
Everyone has heard that phrase said in some way or another. It is often said to younger kids who are trying to grasp that their way isn’t always best, or to older teens/young adults that need to realize that not everyone is going to change their lives to fit their expectations.
But what if the world did revolve around you? How would you like that? What would that look like?
Well, you might find yourself extremely cold and...well...bored. But let's dive into this answering this hypothetical question.
There are a couple of ways to go about answering this:
What would happen if you took the place of the sun right now?
What would the universe look like if you were the same size and mass as the sun?
We’re going to look at each one of these questions, and try to answer them in a way you can grasp.
Let’s get salty.
What would happen if you took the place of the sun right now?
Well, you would absolutely wreck the solar system and everyone would die.
Not saying that you don’t have the mental capacity to care for the solar system. If we are going by that, you are infinitely more qualified than the sun to lead the Solar System seen as the Sun has no brain and can not make its own decisions (at least that we are aware of). But if we were to take the average American male (weighs around 200 lbs, and is 5 feet 9 inches tall (CDC, 2021)), and put that unlucky person in place of the sun, the Solar System would fall apart. The average person, or even the biggest person in the world, doesn’t have enough mass and gravitational pull to keep any part of the Solar System together.
Every planet, asteroid, moon, alien, dwarf planet (sorry Pluto), etc. would fly off in a straight line until they are pulled into a different gravitational influence (ie. another star or bigger planet).
You could imagine it like this:
If you were to tie a string to a ball and swing it around above your head, and then all of a sudden let go of the string, that ball would travel in a straight line, outwards, until another gravitational pull affects it (in this case, Earth’s gravity).
That's the same thing that would happen if all of a sudden, the Sun disappeared, and you appeared in its place.
Everything runs at a straight line, away from you...sorry.
Well, what would happen if you were the same size and mass as the sun? What would the universe look like then?
I’m glad you asked. Here is where it gets fun.
That depends on if you’re looking at a scale measured in weight or physical size measurement (ie. height or length).
Since not everything that is the same height has the same mass, there are two different calculations you would have to run: weight scale and distance (or length) scale.
You can do both of these calculations at home if you want, I provided both of the equations below.*
To find the weight something would be if you were the size of the sun:
weight of object x (4.561 x 10^-29) = weight of the object in scale. **
To find the size something would be (in length) if you were the size of the sun:
Length of object x (1.25 x 10^-9) = length of object in scale. **
*These equations are found to scale for the average American male. While I know everyone differs in size and weight, the difference would be so minuscule that they wouldn’t make much of a difference.
** The results of running the equation on your own will be in the same unit that you used for the original input. Say you put in x amount of grams for the weight, your answer will be in grams.
But to save you from doing math, let me list some things from the universe, and what they would look like if you were the size of the Sun:
Average person = 7.375 x 10^-9 feet tall and 9.12 x 10^-27 lbs
Basketball = 9.875 x 10^-10 ft in diameter and 6.385 x 10^-29 lbs
Earth = .05 feet in diameter and .0006 lbs
Moon = .014 feet in diameter and .00000739 lbs
Jupiter = .573 feet in diameter and .2 lbs
The Sun = 5 feet 9 inches in diameter and 200 lbs.
This makes sense because this is the scale we are going off of.
Sirius A (the brightest star in the night sky) = 9.8 feet in diameter and 400 lbs
The diameter and weight don’t seem to line up, but that is because Sirius A is a Class A star. It is very dense.
Sagittarius A* (the black hole in the middle of the Milky Way) = .02 miles in diameter but a staggering 730 million lbs
UY Scuti (the biggest star we’ve discovered so far) = 1.84 miles in diameter and weighing about 1 ton
Here is where things get hard to measure in weight, so the rest of the list will just be scale lengths.
Milky Way = 777 million miles across
Andromedia Galaxy = 1.9 billion miles across
IC 1101 (largest galaxy we’ve discovered) = 29 billion miles across
The Observable Universe = 58.1 light years across
As you can see, even if you were the size of the sun, you still would be INCREDIBLY small in comparison to the universe. Our universe is so unfathomably big, that we’re struggling to even understand it at a set scale.
Part 1?
Yup! Part 2 will cover the question, “what things could actually orbit around me?”
So stay tuned!
But to wrap up this part, even if the world did revolve around you, you would only be cold in the emptiness of space, bored with nothing to do, and feeling incredibly lonely and small. Maybe you are just better off the size that you are.
Stay Salty.
Sweet ‘n Salty: This article may make you feel incredibly small and insignificant. But think about it for a second. Think about the incredible amount of detail that has gone into you. Everything from the color of your hair, to the scars and wrinkles, to even the beautifully unique smile that you have, you are made special. For a universe that is full of gigantic things, bigger than any of us can even imagine, you are a masterpiece of art. More valuable than any painting or gemstone in a museum! So rock that special thing that you are! Get out there and smile! Enjoy your quirks and talents! BE YOU. and be salty (you may want to look at my “About” page if you are wondering what salty means).
Have you noticed my URL? It's sad, isn't it? I'd love to fix that, but can't do that on my own! So if you would like to help me get a proper URL, feel free to click the link below! I would highly appreciate it! Stay Salty!
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