If the Earth stopped its orbit

This may be a ridiculous question, but here it goes.

I know that if the Earth were to stop in its orbit, then the Earth would be drawn towards the Sun. But if that were to happen, what would happen to the Earths mass? And would the Suns mass be effected in any way?

 

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An "answer" really depends on a level of detail to what you are looking for.
Example; what stopped the Earth in its orbit? If it was another object, the "answer" would include the impact event (Basic kersplat since an impact strong enough to STOP the orbit of the Earth would send molten globules of planet all over the place... This would distribute puddles of Earth all over the Solar System.)

If we assume basic Magic (Evil space wizard casts his 'stop planet spell*":
The Earth would begin a new orbit around the Sun that rapidly would decay (Earth meets Sun type scenario.)
The Mass of the Earth would essentially remain the same (albeit small differences due to Relativistic effects) through the event up to impact with the Sun.
Upon impact, the Earths mass would be added to the Sun. So the Sun would gain a very very very tiny percentage of its weight in new mass.
The Earth would lose all its mass, its water (note that the water mass will be added to the Sun), its self respect and its parasites. A small consolation is that once its mass is added to the Sun, the Earth will no longer exist and therefor not care.



* Note: This can be prevented by sending a simple minded barbarian on a quest to seek the gnome on top of the mountain and gain the " 'stop planet spell' counterspell crystal juice." Be advised, you will meet many interesting characters on this adventure resulting in numerous side quests, mini games and battling monsters and wizard minions along the way. Fun for all ages.

 

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well you actually touched on the specific detail i was wondering about. thank you

 

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Just as a side note: If the Earth were stopped in its orbit, it would take about 2 months to fall into the Sun.

 

Ok, now I do have more questions, but they are based on my understanding of why our orbits are the way they are. and im not fully confident in my understanding. From what I understand our orbit is a balance of speed and distance from the Sun. With the closer planets having a higher speed of orbit to keep it in place, and with the speed decreasing the further you get from the Sun. Now if thats correct, then if any of the planets were to stop its orbit and its mass be added to the sun then wouldnt that create a domino effect? Because if the sun has more mass, then it has greater gravitational pull then it did before. And then each of the planets current orbit speed wouldnt be enough to maintain its current orbit. Am I wrong?

 

I'm confident, so far, in your ability to ask.

Until you demonstrate otherwise, you're asking in order to gain more than what you have.
We ALL must do that.
Take a look at those folks around here that make up stuff and then present it and claim that Relativity must be wrong... and then get angry and start insulting everyone when they are shown to have misunderstood basic principles.
You have not acted anything like that- so Please don't act embarrassed about asking questions

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We're all ignorant here. Some of us... more than others...
Asking simple and direct questions is a sure fire way to alleviate it.

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Exactly.

No, but the mass of all the planets in the solar system, including even the behemoth of Jupiter, combined is still a small percentage of the Suns mass.

Conservation of Energy.

Let's use our magic wizard again. Only instead of Earth, he gets ticked off at the Jovians and magically moves Jupiters orbit to 1 foot away from the Sun with a teleporter spell.
Poof* Fizzle*
Ok, nevermind... Jupiter is now 0 feet away.

Alright so with Jupiters added mass to the Sun - The Earth would slide a little bit closer to the Sun, resulting in a higher net speed and a new balance. Because Jupiters Mass was still not that significant compared to the mass of the Sun and the great distance between the Sun and the Earth, the Earth would still be in the habitable zone.

 

I see...I am having a hard time understanding one thing though...if the Earth were to slide a little bit closer to the Sun how would that increase the net speed of our orbit? And thank you for your patience with my questions

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Because the Earth was closer to the Sun.

Imagine a record on a record player, mark a point on the outside edge and then mark a point near the center.
The one near the center must move faster than the one at the edge, even though the disk must move at one speed

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Ya that would make sense lol. So it operates in a similar way as a marble rotating around the center of a funnel to keep from falling towards the center? And if so then does that imply that there is an elastic property to the fabric of spacetime?

 

Yes- sorry I'm multitasking and not taking time to really post well here...

The implication is there, as observed by the warping of space by mass in Relativity (Gravity) and the expansion of space (Observed between galaxy's or clusters).

If the Sun increased its mass slightly with that magical Jupiter moving wizard, then the Earth would be pulled a little bit closer into a faster rotational period.

It is this reason that planets form stable orbits. The coalescing clumps that formed the planets were part of a rotating disk that had enough momentum to carry the solidified objects in motion. The early solar system had a great deal of collisions and catastrophes, as well as probably Sun gobbling, as evidenced by meteorites, impact craters and extra-Earth (The Moon and other solar bodies) impact craters today. However, since most large objects were already in equilibrium, the orbits would re-stabilize.
Check out the Big Whack Theory that most likely created Earths unusual Moon.



I find these things fun.

 

Anything that would stop the Earth in it's orbit would probably destroy it.

 

ok so if an elastic property is implied then is it possible to create a warp in spacetime without the presence of mass?

 

What is a 'warp in space-time'?

Edit: You mean like a disturbance? So where did the mass go?

 

Ok from my understanding of whats been said so far, the mass of a planet creates a distortion in space-time. Im wondering if its possible to have the same or similar distortion in space-time WITHOUT mass.

 

No (unless there's something I'm not aware of), but what does that have to do with the OP?

 

Well I was trying to understand if bosons and fermions have anything to do with the space between planetary objects. And instead of asking someone to explain everything all at once, i am simply asking questions one at a time

 

Enmos answered this...

To expand (Again.. I'm such a horrible person...) you might look into the mathematically viable, yet unlikely White Holes.

To have Warp space without a huge chunk of matter, we would need INCREDIBLE energies or exotic matter that doesn't exist.
For further reading check out here.

If there was some way of latching onto a white holes edge and dragging it around, you could create some interesting space warping effects, as well.

I've given a lot of reading links... sheesh...

 

Matter makes up what makes planetary objects and also float within space. Radiation floats freely in space and interacts with matter. All radiation is limited to c and all matter is sub c limited.

Read here...

<Shoots himself>

ETA:

 

well thank you very much for your help. it seems like im starting to frustrate some, so ill just leave it where it is and utilize the tools that neverfly has given me to expand my knowledge. thank you again

 

For the record... I am not frustrated.

Not by You anyway...