Get a copy of What If? 2 and Randall’s other books at: https://xkcd.com/booksMore serious answers to absurd questions at: https://what-if.xkcd.com/What would...
And I was then double surprised that being inside the sun for a nanosecond would be so devastating!
10^-5 J on the surface, when 5 J is needed for a burn
Surface of the sun is a few thousand degrees, inside is a few million
So like a jump off 10^3. No problem, should still be fine.
Not even remotely! I didn’t look too close, but the equation he linked has temperature raised to the forth, so a temperature jump of 10^3 would result in 10^12 difference in energy.
Which would increase the 10^-5 J on the surface to 10^7 J. Which explains why you’d only have femtoseconds!
I usually feel like I have an intuitive answer to “what ifs?” This one really surprised me to find that the answer is basically “nothing”
And I was then double surprised that being inside the sun for a nanosecond would be so devastating!
So like a jump off 10^3. No problem, should still be fine.
Not even remotely! I didn’t look too close, but the equation he linked has temperature raised to the forth, so a temperature jump of 10^3 would result in 10^12 difference in energy.
Which would increase the 10^-5 J on the surface to 10^7 J. Which explains why you’d only have femtoseconds!
A real double whammy of unintuitive results.
Yeah I’d have been interested to know how long it would take to suitably warm up from the surface. I guess we’ll never know.