Mar 10, 2021 23:00:00

What would happen if the whole earth turned golden?

In the fairy tale 'The

King's Ear is the Donkey's Ear ', King Midas , also known as the King whose ear has become a donkey, gave 'the ability to turn everything he touches into gold' in return for his hospitality to God's servants. It is widely known for the episode that it got it. Kurzgesagt , a science-based YouTube channel, explains in an animation movie a thought experiment that 'if the whole earth turns golden' with the power of King Midas.

What if the World turned to Gold? --The Gold Apocalypse --YouTube


Midas, the king of Phrygia in Greek mythology, held a 10-day-night hospitality party for Silenus , who was drunk and brought to the court, and became Dionysus , the god of fertility and drunkenness. You will be rewarded with 'I will grant only one wish.' King Midas wanted 'the ability to turn everything he touches into gold,' but this ability was like a curse, turning his daughter into a golden statue.

In this episode, we will think about 'Midas Apocalypse,' in which the power of King Midas turns the entire earth into gold. Before considering the situation where the earth turns into gold, let us first consider

the element 'gold' itself, which has 118 neutrons and has an atomic number of 79.

Gold has properties such as non-rust, gloss, and flexibility, and it can be said that the electrical forces of protons and electrons produce these properties. Therefore, the ability to 'turn non-gold into gold' can be understood as the ability to change the atom itself.

So, consider the case where King Midas touches

the duck, the mascot of Kurzgesagt. Duck is composed of 'light atoms' with young atomic numbers such as hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, so if the duck turns into gold, all of these light atoms will get electrons, protons, and neutrons to become gold atoms. It is thought that it has become. Therefore, as a result of obtaining electrons, protons, and neutrons, not only the mass of the duck suddenly increases 33 times, but also the density increases 20 times or more.

If, as legendary, the duck turns golden in its original shape, it is believed that at this density the gold atoms would come too close to each other to generate intense repulsive energy, causing an explosion equivalent to 0.5 tonnes of TNT. I will. So, if King Midas touches the duck, only the bombed King Midas and the scattered gold powder will remain.

This is far from the legend ... So, instead of the ability to turn King Midas's power into a gold atom, he said, 'Break up the neutrons and other atoms that already exist. Let's think of it as the ability to 'reorganize into gold atoms.'

In this case, the mass is unchanged, so King Midas can touch the duck with confidence.

But when it comes to density, the story is different. Gold is nearly 20 times more dense than ducks ...

The inside of the duck that turned golden becomes squishy.

So what if King Midas with this ability inadvertently falls and 'touches the Earth'?

If the earth is goldenened by the power of King Midas, it is thought that the inside will be in a squishy state like a duck. This gap is not a big problem for ducks, but it is a big problem for the Earth. In the case of the earth, gravity is large, so contraction occurs in the form of filling the gap. Eventually the Earth will shrink to a radius of two-thirds.

During this contraction, the ground shrinks inward at a detonation velocity, causing everything on the ground to float.

The contraction phenomenon itself is thought to last for about 10 minutes, and not only all living things, but all objects that are not fixed to the ground, such as trains and ships, continue to float. You might think that you can enjoy levitation for 10 minutes, but it will collide with the earth the moment the contraction phenomenon ends. This collision is synonymous with 'the earth hits at 30,000 km / h', so everything that hits is basically shattered. So, at the end of this phenomenon, all living things turn into 'red puddle'.

The red puddle of all living things is only the beginning of the collapse. The earth is crushed by the collision of people, the sea, the mountains, and the earth's crust, and the

core reaches an ultra-high temperature of 1 million degrees Celsius.

In addition, the collision produces a very strong shock wave, which greatly expands the atmosphere. The surface temperature of the earth also reaches a high temperature of hundreds of thousands of degrees Celsius, and everything on the earth evaporates instantly and turns into a cloud of plasma.

Many atoms escape from the atmosphere in the form of mixing with plasma clouds, and the earth temporarily shines brighter than the sun. Then, in a few days, this phenomenon will subside and the earth will turn into a small golden sphere.

This is too scary, so let's consider the case where King Midas's power was an ability that ignored the physical law of 'changing the volume of a touched object into gold without changing it.'

In this case, the Earth touched by King Midas does not expand or contract, but it is thought that the mass will increase in an instant. Since the density of gold is 3.5 times that of the Earth, the touch of King Midas suddenly makes the Earth 3.5 times heavier.

For objects on Earth, gravity suddenly increases 3.5 times. It's like forcing a '2.5 times your weight' to be tied together, and humans can't move under their own weight unless they're a world weightlifting champion.

The effect of increasing gravity by 3.5 times is enormous, trees collapse and buildings collapse. Birds and planes fall and collide with the surface of the earth, so depending on where you are at the moment when the earth becomes gold, you may be involved in an accident and die instantly.

It is not only living things and objects that are affected by gravity. The weight of the atmosphere and the air pressure are also increased by 3.5 times.

Considering scuba diving, you can see that you can continue breathing even with 3.5 times the air pressure, but the problem is not breathing. When the air pressure increases 3.5 times, the compressed atmosphere raises the temperature to 150 ° C. This rise burns everything on the surface and there is no escape.

In addition, gold is

malleable is a soft metal with excellent. When the earth turns into gold, the mountains are thought to turn into gold, but because gold is soft, the entire mountain range collapses due to its own weight.

It is difficult to predict what will happen due to the phenomenon of 'mountain range collapse'. However, it is likely that there will be a major earthquake and a huge landslide.

This phenomenon is not limited to land. Because gold is soft, the mountains collapse, while the depressions in the sea fill up, averaging above sea level.

So, in the end, there should be a planet covered with ultra-high temperatures and a depth of 3km.