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Napkin math: Earth orbits at ~30 km/s, escape velocity is ~42 km/s. So to get Earth to leave the solar system (the inverse of capturing a planet under the most
by peeters 6y ago
Napkin math: Earth orbits at ~30 km/s, escape velocity is ~42 km/s. So to get Earth to leave the solar system (the inverse of capturing a planet under the most optimal circumstance), you would need to give it 12 km/s. Earth is ~6 * 10^24 kg, so that represents ~4.3 * 10^32 joules. The sun gives out around 3.8 * 10^26 joules per second (i.e. watts).
So with perfect efficiency, working just from conservation of energy, this would require around 13 days of the entire energy output of the sun. Or around a trillion years at Earth's current energy consumption.
- ngold 6y agoNapkin math, my favorite kind of math. Love the days of the sun output part. Sure why not...only 13 days.
- kabacha 6y agoHonestly that doesn't sound so much for a late civilization.
- m4rtink 6y agoYeah, nothing complicated for an advanced Dyson swarm - getting the energy there and propelant (unless you somehow acquired a reactionless drive) would be the main problems.