If the earth were a mile closer to the sun how would it affect our temperature on earth? How far would the earth have to be from it's current orbit to notice a temperature change?
2 Answers
Explanation:
The average surface temperature of the Earth as a result of it bathed by sunlight can be calculated by assuming that both the Earth and the Sun are blackbodies and the Earth is in radiative equilibrium with the Sun.
Note:If you want to know how, ask this as a separate question.
Substituting the numerical values for
We are interested in the following questions -
(1) How would
(2) What should be the change in
To answer these questions, holding
Differentiating once,
The change in Earth's surface temperature
Question 1:
Change in Temperature (in percentage ) is :
When the distance decrease by a mile the temperature on Earth increases by
Question 2: Assuming a change of
Change in distance (in percentage) is :
When the Earth-Sun decreases by
A simpler answer. almost anything.
Explanation:
During a year the distance Sun-Earth varies by 5 million km. And this effect has little effect on seasons. Actually, the Sun is closer in Winter and farther in Summer (for Northern hemisphere). Maybe the year would be some milliseconds shorter.
At very long range (billions of years), since orbits are chaotic, the cumulative effects would have unpredictable effects in the Earth's orbit.