WEBVTT - Tidally Locked Perpetual Darkness

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 1>your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas.

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<v Speaker 1>And today we're talking about tidle lock which is we're

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<v Speaker 1>discussing earlier sounds like it would have been like an

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<v Speaker 1>awesome lady surfers in prison movie from like mid nineties

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<v Speaker 1>cinematic tidal Lockdown. Yeah, title Lockdown. They were rebels on

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<v Speaker 1>the board and they paid dearly beneath the sea something

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<v Speaker 1>like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's I like the ided

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<v Speaker 1>to mention that's an underwater prison. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's wind so difficult to break out off. But now

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<v Speaker 1>we are not talking about that wonderful film idea. What

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<v Speaker 1>we are instead of talking about title locking in terms

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<v Speaker 1>of the way our planets and the ware Moon's gravitate

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<v Speaker 1>around other objects. Yeah, and how it actually affects the

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<v Speaker 1>planets um and the stars and the moon's And if

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<v Speaker 1>you think about the Moon and the Earth, for instance,

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<v Speaker 1>the moon is tidally locked to the Earth. We look

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<v Speaker 1>into the night sky and we always see the same

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<v Speaker 1>side of the moon, the same face, the same face

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<v Speaker 1>of the moon and the Moon's backside is always facing

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<v Speaker 1>away from us. Uh the dark side of the moon,

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<v Speaker 1>if you will, even though it's not technically dark all

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<v Speaker 1>the time because it gets sunlight as well, it's just

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<v Speaker 1>we never see it. It's it's tidally locked to us,

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<v Speaker 1>not to the Sun. If we were tidally locked to

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<v Speaker 1>the sun. Uh I, if an objects were titally locked

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<v Speaker 1>to the Sun, it would be a different scenario where

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<v Speaker 1>only one side of the planet would receive sunlight and

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<v Speaker 1>the other side would be cast in perpetual darkness. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>but for us, this is a very stable arrangement right

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<v Speaker 1>right as having the moon tidally locked to us and

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<v Speaker 1>the man the moon just bean that that same face

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<v Speaker 1>that we see every night, and presumably his his hind

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<v Speaker 1>quarters on the other side. Yeah. The Moon, of course

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<v Speaker 1>is rotating like it's It's important to note it's not

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<v Speaker 1>that the moon is motionless up there, but it completes

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<v Speaker 1>one rotation about its axis in the same time it

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<v Speaker 1>takes to complete one orbit around the Earth. So it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's just lined up perfectly. It's there's a synchronicity and

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<v Speaker 1>in the way these these worlds are moving and meanwhile

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<v Speaker 1>we're just you know, turning to run our access going

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<v Speaker 1>hey son and getting day and night right right, And

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<v Speaker 1>the title inners it because the synchronization is caused by

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<v Speaker 1>strong tidal forces from the Earth that effectively lock the

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<v Speaker 1>moon's orientation. And it's really interesting to know that it

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't always like this. The rotation has sort of set

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<v Speaker 1>in over time, which I think is pretty fascinating. That's right.

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<v Speaker 1>The gravitational poll has has changed the rate of the speed,

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<v Speaker 1>I should say, of our rotation. But this has happened

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<v Speaker 1>over millions and millions and millions. Yea. And there of

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<v Speaker 1>course other moons that have a similar situation going, and

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<v Speaker 1>you see a lot with moons. If we look all

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<v Speaker 1>the way to the edge of our solar system to

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<v Speaker 1>the Planetoi Pluto, you'll find that it has a little

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<v Speaker 1>moon called sharone Um or Sharon, however you want to

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<v Speaker 1>say it. My Dante teacher always such Sharon. Yeah, Salva Maria.

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<v Speaker 1>If anyone anyone at Tense University of tennessee Knox Fall

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<v Speaker 1>and wants a good Italian Dante teacher, h check up

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<v Speaker 1>old Steal anyway, So Sharon's or a bit around Pluto

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<v Speaker 1>takes six point for earth days and one Pluto rotation

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<v Speaker 1>takes six point four earth days. What's interesting here is

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<v Speaker 1>that sharone neither rises nor sets, but basically hovers over

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<v Speaker 1>the same spot on Pluto's surface all the time. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's like a really extreme example of tidal locking. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and this again happens with moons, but it also is

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<v Speaker 1>very common that it happens with stars as well, red

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<v Speaker 1>dwarf stars most commonly. So a planet gets locked into

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<v Speaker 1>or rather I should say, yes, the planet gets locked

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<v Speaker 1>into the star's orientation, and that changes everything for the planet, right,

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<v Speaker 1>because if you are just facing one side of the sun,

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<v Speaker 1>you would never experience day and night like we do.

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<v Speaker 1>One side would constantly be in darkness while the other

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<v Speaker 1>side would constantly be in light. There are various old

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<v Speaker 1>folk tales where like they'll be like a maiden whose

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<v Speaker 1>task with a job like she has to before the

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<v Speaker 1>sun comes up, she has to finish knitting a scar

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<v Speaker 1>for ori. Generally it's something a little more complex, like

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<v Speaker 1>draining an entire pond with a straw or a spoon

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<v Speaker 1>or something that sounds just like those old folk tales are. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's always some ridiculous task. And then like a good

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<v Speaker 1>fairiy or something will come along and turn back the clock.

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<v Speaker 1>In real life, there would be just catastrophic consequences because

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<v Speaker 1>the cycle of night and day is vital to the

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<v Speaker 1>way our weather works, but the way that the Earth

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<v Speaker 1>as we experience it works. I mean you have one side,

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<v Speaker 1>you have daylight regions heating up, you have night regions

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<v Speaker 1>cooling down, you have airflow moving back and forth. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>it's all part of the system. There's an article on

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<v Speaker 1>house the work's called How Weather Works that I happen

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<v Speaker 1>to write. But it is a good job of taking

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<v Speaker 1>some of the very simple elements of night and day

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<v Speaker 1>and using that as a starting point for understanding how

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<v Speaker 1>global weather operates well and also how it affects every

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<v Speaker 1>living organism. Right, And we take that for granted sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>because of course the sun rises in the sunsets um

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<v Speaker 1>and we we live and die by this configuration. But

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<v Speaker 1>you know, they're they're of at the other configurations going

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<v Speaker 1>on in the universe. And the question is what does

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<v Speaker 1>this look like? And if you did have this sort

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<v Speaker 1>of configuration where it was only day only night on

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<v Speaker 1>one half of the planet, would there be opportunities for life?

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<v Speaker 1>Would organisms have a habitable area, and so that's what

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<v Speaker 1>we're going to talk about a little bit more in depth. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, what, what does the weather look like? You know?

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<v Speaker 1>My mind immediately turned to science fiction, so I I

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<v Speaker 1>was looking up to see what other examples I could

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<v Speaker 1>think of that were sci fi related. If anyone out

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<v Speaker 1>there knows of a good example of a tidally locked

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<v Speaker 1>world in science fiction where they actually explore weather and

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<v Speaker 1>some of the more realistic effects, I would love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear about them, because the main examples would come to

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<v Speaker 1>my mind, or things like there's the nineteen twelve novel

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<v Speaker 1>The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson, which I'm pretty

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<v Speaker 1>sure I've mentioned here before. This is the early post

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<v Speaker 1>apocalyptic book that is so filled with this fantastic, wonderful

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<v Speaker 1>ark ideas, but it's written so tiresomely, so badly, that

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<v Speaker 1>it's you're just constantly sifting for these nuggets of gold

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<v Speaker 1>amid just utter crap. It has its lovers, and I

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<v Speaker 1>have kind of I have a very much of love

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<v Speaker 1>hate relationship with this book. But it takes place in

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<v Speaker 1>a world where the sun is burned out and the

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<v Speaker 1>remnants of humanity retreat into these massive geothermal powered pyramids,

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<v Speaker 1>and they grow crop crops and subterranean chambers, and they're

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<v Speaker 1>telepaths and they're spinning disc weapons all you know, monsters

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<v Speaker 1>out in the dark and all. But what's really cool

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<v Speaker 1>about it is that Hodgson's fiction was based on Lord

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<v Speaker 1>Kelvin's theories of the way gravity works. So the night

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<v Speaker 1>land in the scenario this whole plant is the world

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<v Speaker 1>again where the sun has going going dark and title

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<v Speaker 1>Dragon slow the earth rotation to a crawl. He depicts

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<v Speaker 1>this world is one where you have an entire just

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<v Speaker 1>frozen night side of the world and then this dying

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<v Speaker 1>side of the world that's facing a sun that's fading out.

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<v Speaker 1>Another example that comes to mind is Jack of Shadows

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<v Speaker 1>by Roger zelaz Name. This is a pretty fabulous little

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<v Speaker 1>novel that has a that has a lot of magic

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<v Speaker 1>in it. So it's not really you know, like I say,

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<v Speaker 1>he's not really concerned with weather patterns. But there's a

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<v Speaker 1>side of that. It's a tidally locked world. There's a

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<v Speaker 1>night world and then there's a day world. The day

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<v Speaker 1>world is ruled by science and technology, in the night

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<v Speaker 1>world is ruled by magic. And you have a character

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<v Speaker 1>who's from the night world and every time he dies

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<v Speaker 1>in the daylight world, he's he's reborn on the far

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<v Speaker 1>side and dreams. Yeah. Uh. And then and of course

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<v Speaker 1>that we have to look at Star Trek. There are

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<v Speaker 1>a few different planets that pop up there, but the

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<v Speaker 1>most notable seems to be the planet Remus, which is

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<v Speaker 1>the third of four planets in the Romulan system. And

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<v Speaker 1>you have a situation here where it's basically a mining world,

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<v Speaker 1>and you have a race of individuals called the Riemans.

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<v Speaker 1>It's playing on the whole Remus and Romulus. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>the Riemans are either a separate species that evolve on

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<v Speaker 1>the dark side of the planet, or they're sort of

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<v Speaker 1>like the early Romulan setters who have devolved or evolved

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<v Speaker 1>into nighttime species, so they look like kind of big

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<v Speaker 1>bat creatures. They've evolved to live in this dark portion

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<v Speaker 1>of this tidally locked world. Well see, and that's what

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<v Speaker 1>that's why our imagination can't help but go wild with this,

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<v Speaker 1>because when you start to think about tidally locked world,

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<v Speaker 1>you start to think about, you know, some sort of

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<v Speaker 1>organism that may I'm not saying that they're there are

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<v Speaker 1>bad people um. But but obviously there are adaptations that

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<v Speaker 1>nature makes, and so you start to wonder what that

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<v Speaker 1>would look like. But before you can even start to

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<v Speaker 1>look at that, you have to really start to think

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<v Speaker 1>about what this planet would feel like, um, what sort

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<v Speaker 1>of weather systems. Obviously, there would be no seasons, right.

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<v Speaker 1>The only change in the amount of sunlight would come

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<v Speaker 1>from the slight variation and distance from the Sun because

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<v Speaker 1>of the like for instance, if if Earth were to

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<v Speaker 1>become locked to the Sun UM because the Earth's orbit

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<v Speaker 1>being slightly out of round. So if that were to

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<v Speaker 1>happen with the Earth, then you'd have slight variations. There

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<v Speaker 1>might be different climate depending on how far away you

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<v Speaker 1>are from the center of the side that always faces

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<v Speaker 1>the sun UM. On the equator of the sun facing side,

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<v Speaker 1>you'd have like these incredibly high temperatures, and in the

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<v Speaker 1>center of land masses that are facing the sun, you'd

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<v Speaker 1>have hot as haitise deserts. Right. And then by the coast, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>there would be an incredible amount of thunderstorms because of

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<v Speaker 1>the rapid evaporation of water. So yes, their water could

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<v Speaker 1>exist in some of these scenarios, and there have been

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<v Speaker 1>tons of computer models that have told us there's an

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<v Speaker 1>opportunity for atmosphere to die off, to completely evaporate, right,

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<v Speaker 1>or it could sustain itself in this continuous cycle where

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<v Speaker 1>if you have thunderstorms depositing weather systems of rain over

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<v Speaker 1>to the dark side. I love to think of this

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<v Speaker 1>dark side is sort of a snow globe effect. You

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<v Speaker 1>know that it's constantly you know, snowing over there or

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<v Speaker 1>raining over there, and uh, and then again the cycle

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<v Speaker 1>just continues on. Yeah, and then like you said, there

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<v Speaker 1>are other models of it that should there being very

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<v Speaker 1>little person to station on the night side, because you

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<v Speaker 1>end up with the substantial precipitation at the what it's

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<v Speaker 1>called the subsolar point, the point where the sun is

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<v Speaker 1>baking the earth the most though, like the dead on

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<v Speaker 1>sun zone, and then you have net evaporation, and so

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<v Speaker 1>you have all the the atmospheric water is transported from

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<v Speaker 1>the night side of the day side. You eventually have

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<v Speaker 1>oceans just freezing on the other side of the world. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>So it takes a little time because you also they're

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<v Speaker 1>also those oceans are growing saltier due to the evaporation,

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<v Speaker 1>and there you know, it's still a system of water

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<v Speaker 1>that's very much and flows, so it takes longer for

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<v Speaker 1>it to to freeze up. Yeah, and so you would

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<v Speaker 1>have all these different circles of climates. Basically, it wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>just be like, oh, this one half of of you

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<v Speaker 1>know on Earth that had become locked to the Sun

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<v Speaker 1>was completely hot boiling and the other half was frozen zero.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, there would be variations in between. And that's

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<v Speaker 1>the really exciting thing about whether or not um there

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<v Speaker 1>would be habitable zones that could support life, right, And

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<v Speaker 1>this is very much a question when we're looking at

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<v Speaker 1>these exoplanets, because we're catching the planets in the habitable zone,

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<v Speaker 1>but there's a little there's a certain amount of crossover

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<v Speaker 1>between habitable zone planets and potentially tidally locked planets, especially

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<v Speaker 1>when it comes to in the stars, which are stars

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<v Speaker 1>that are slightly bigger than the one that we call Sun.

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<v Speaker 1>It would be one of those situations where you'd be like,

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<v Speaker 1>all right, the planets in the right spot. It's in

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<v Speaker 1>that Goldilocks zone where it's just the right size where

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<v Speaker 1>it could conceivably have life. Oh, but it's not rotating.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's kind of like the house looks great, but

0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.120
<v Speaker 1>there's no power you know, it's uh, there's something drastically

0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:31.959
<v Speaker 1>wrong here. Alright, we're gonna take a quick break and

0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.720
<v Speaker 1>then we're gonna get back to all this. So hanging

0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:42.200
<v Speaker 1>there for one sec. All right, we're back now. Astrobiologists

0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.560
<v Speaker 1>think there might be some situations to where you would

0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.679
<v Speaker 1>have a certain amount of what's called substellar weathering instability

0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.560
<v Speaker 1>occur where basically you have higher temperatures that resulting in

0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:54.800
<v Speaker 1>stronger rainfall, and those the rainfall is weathering away the soil,

0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.520
<v Speaker 1>exposing more and more minerals, which then react with the

0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.560
<v Speaker 1>chemicals in the air into a certain extent that could

0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:04.120
<v Speaker 1>be counteracted by volcanic activity on the planet. So there

0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.920
<v Speaker 1>might be a situation where tidily locked world would be

0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.160
<v Speaker 1>balanced out a bit and you would have this habitable

0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.520
<v Speaker 1>zone on the world. Generally, it would be that that

0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.240
<v Speaker 1>ring that sort of exists as a borderland between the

0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.800
<v Speaker 1>night land and then in the dayland, right, Which is

0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:19.920
<v Speaker 1>that That's the part that I just get so excited

0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.480
<v Speaker 1>about because I think where there's there's the opportunity for

0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.280
<v Speaker 1>for life existing. And it kind of made me think

0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.720
<v Speaker 1>about when we were talking about star dust though, about

0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.040
<v Speaker 1>how difficult it is to build up life on a planet,

0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.640
<v Speaker 1>and you just have you have to have the absolute

0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.920
<v Speaker 1>right conditions and the right building blocks. So I mean,

0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.040
<v Speaker 1>you know, remember that life evolved on Earth for two

0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:46.120
<v Speaker 1>billion years before it began to produce and use oxygen,

0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:51.360
<v Speaker 1>for instance, and organisms used photosynthesis, which use carbon dioxide,

0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.160
<v Speaker 1>and all those little guys produce little puffs of oxygen

0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.080
<v Speaker 1>and over millions and millions of years, created more and

0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.800
<v Speaker 1>more oxygen and what is now our atmosp fhere, right,

0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.439
<v Speaker 1>So you know, we talked about this and we say

0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.280
<v Speaker 1>there could be habitable zones, but again, all these elements

0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:10.080
<v Speaker 1>have to be just right, yeah, and the only model

0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.280
<v Speaker 1>for life that we have is very much a rotating planet.

0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.160
<v Speaker 1>It's it is not tidally locked. So it becomes even

0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.920
<v Speaker 1>more difficult to try imagine how that process might take

0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.640
<v Speaker 1>place on a world where you have just a night world,

0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:27.240
<v Speaker 1>a day world and then this potentially happenable twilight zone

0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:29.960
<v Speaker 1>ringing around them right, right, and you'd have to have

0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:34.040
<v Speaker 1>an atmosphere, right, So that's that's the first thing again though,

0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.839
<v Speaker 1>there there's this opportunity to have the atmosphere, as you said,

0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.440
<v Speaker 1>if you've got enough going on day and night side

0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.480
<v Speaker 1>that they sort of converge to have these habitable zones

0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.640
<v Speaker 1>that could support um, you know, an atmosphere and keep

0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:49.120
<v Speaker 1>it in. Yeah, and what's interesting to there's some models

0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.760
<v Speaker 1>for tidally locked worlds where it's not it's not like

0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.440
<v Speaker 1>a perfect tidal lock, where they'll be the two rotations

0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.600
<v Speaker 1>don't completely line up, so they'll be like a little

0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.160
<v Speaker 1>bit of wiggle room there. You could potentially have a

0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.400
<v Speaker 1>world where there would be regions that would sort of

0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.079
<v Speaker 1>have a little night and day going on in that

0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.280
<v Speaker 1>habitable ring. Well, and a lot of people have thought

0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.800
<v Speaker 1>about this, particularly in terms of Earth, like whatever, Earth

0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.600
<v Speaker 1>became totally locked to the Sun because Mercury, it's thought

0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:21.160
<v Speaker 1>was once tinally locked. Um Radar observations of Mercury revealed

0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.560
<v Speaker 1>that the planet rotates three times on its access for

0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.480
<v Speaker 1>every two orbits yea. Early on, we actually thought it

0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:31.080
<v Speaker 1>was titlely locked like the n Yeah. The thing is,

0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.600
<v Speaker 1>because of the planet's tiny size and the proximity to

0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:36.200
<v Speaker 1>the Sun, it makes it a really good candidate for

0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.320
<v Speaker 1>being tital a locked. So here's the thing though, They

0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.000
<v Speaker 1>think that this this weird sort of rotation system that

0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.680
<v Speaker 1>has going on is the result of a giant impact

0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:49.280
<v Speaker 1>from the asteroid that knocked Mercury once it was totally

0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:53.760
<v Speaker 1>locked um into what is now sort of odd rotation configuration. Yeah,

0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.720
<v Speaker 1>it's got a massive hole in it called Rambat Crater,

0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.000
<v Speaker 1>which is about a seven and fifty kilometers wide. Would

0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.200
<v Speaker 1>is pretty substantial for a planet that's under five thousand

0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:05.600
<v Speaker 1>kilometers in size. Yeah, and they said that asteroid would

0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.600
<v Speaker 1>have been about forty three miles wide and about fifty

0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.640
<v Speaker 1>trillion metric tons in mass. So can you imagine this

0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:17.600
<v Speaker 1>object hurling into Mercury tile a locked world and actually

0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:22.000
<v Speaker 1>changing not just the spin but the but it even

0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.840
<v Speaker 1>being locked. Yeah, there's there's a theory that this planet

0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.360
<v Speaker 1>size impact may have also had an effect on the

0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.240
<v Speaker 1>density of the planet because it is an extremely dense world.

0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:32.680
<v Speaker 1>And there are a number of theories as the wine

0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.160
<v Speaker 1>that may be, but one of them is that this

0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.320
<v Speaker 1>enormous impact may have knocked it round. Here's here's what

0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.720
<v Speaker 1>I want to get to is that the what effs? Right?

0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.040
<v Speaker 1>And I immediately start thinking how you've got this perpetual

0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:48.920
<v Speaker 1>night and my mind goes to cave fish. Yes, because

0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.360
<v Speaker 1>kfish are a great example of something that has adapted

0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:56.080
<v Speaker 1>to its environment. Cavefish are indigenous to Somalium, and they

0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.080
<v Speaker 1>have been cut off from the sun for up to

0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:01.480
<v Speaker 1>two point six million years and they lived in dark

0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:06.280
<v Speaker 1>caves under the Smilean dessert for millions of years um.

0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.760
<v Speaker 1>And then they had lost their eyes and scales and

0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.880
<v Speaker 1>their coloring. And now researchers think that they're they're actually

0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:18.560
<v Speaker 1>losing their their internal body clocks. What is fascinating about

0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.240
<v Speaker 1>that is that it's taken that long for their internal

0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.520
<v Speaker 1>clocks to kind of get off a bit. Wow, So

0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.240
<v Speaker 1>that's the pace in which these changes occur. Really, yeah,

0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:31.000
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you know, the obviously their their physical changes occurred,

0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.120
<v Speaker 1>you know, much faster than that. So if you can

0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:35.240
<v Speaker 1>imagine humans, if this were to happen to the Earth

0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.040
<v Speaker 1>right for some reason, uh, you know, our eyes kind

0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:42.480
<v Speaker 1>of scaling over with skin uh and then you know,

0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.040
<v Speaker 1>our pigment changing, but still even two point six million

0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:50.560
<v Speaker 1>years after the event, having some sort of pull towards this,

0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.240
<v Speaker 1>you know, dining in old World even though you're in

0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.520
<v Speaker 1>perpetual darkness because their entire evolutionary history hinges on it.

0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.680
<v Speaker 1>Even if we ended up becoming some sort of more

0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.120
<v Speaker 1>lock or or like the creatures in the descent, you know, yeah,

0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.159
<v Speaker 1>so I mean if you were sun deprived, can you

0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.520
<v Speaker 1>can you imagine the sort of traditions and metaphors that

0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:11.000
<v Speaker 1>would arise in language if you if you are sun

0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.760
<v Speaker 1>starved and still dependent on it and yet you had

0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.680
<v Speaker 1>adapted in some ways. Yeah, of course, there would be

0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.639
<v Speaker 1>a lot of questions as to how you were obtaining food,

0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.159
<v Speaker 1>and because as we've explored the the situation on the

0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:25.960
<v Speaker 1>dark side of the world would be pretty grim. I mean,

0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.240
<v Speaker 1>there's no there's no light, so photosynthesis is coming to

0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.880
<v Speaker 1>a close. Um, you have freezing temperatures, you have moisture

0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.639
<v Speaker 1>being drawn to the other side of the world. So

0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.080
<v Speaker 1>it's it's hard to imagine what life would consist of

0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.439
<v Speaker 1>in that situation unless you you did have a scenario

0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.560
<v Speaker 1>where individuals were somehow technologically sustained, or if there was

0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:48.399
<v Speaker 1>some sort of trade situation with the with the daylit world.

0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.359
<v Speaker 1>But but things are gonna be pretty severe there too,

0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:52.720
<v Speaker 1>so I guess it would be more like you would

0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:54.679
<v Speaker 1>have to have some sort of trade scenario with the

0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.639
<v Speaker 1>twilight world, like that's the that's the area where civilization

0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.000
<v Speaker 1>is going to thrive more because you can have the

0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.440
<v Speaker 1>baked side and the frozen side and only in the

0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.119
<v Speaker 1>middle of things going to be just right right. And

0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.560
<v Speaker 1>of course we're talking about you know, if this were

0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:09.560
<v Speaker 1>to occur on the Earth, this is not something that

0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:15.200
<v Speaker 1>would happen like the next dayking about millions of millions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right,

0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.439
<v Speaker 1>but you know, I mean, you'd have life forms that

0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:19.760
<v Speaker 1>could not subsist on the on the sunlit side, and

0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.160
<v Speaker 1>by some versa, well you've seen what happens to say,

0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.520
<v Speaker 1>like the neighborhoods in Atlanta when when there's a severe

0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.679
<v Speaker 1>snowstorm like two weeks and it's full on cannibalism and

0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:34.200
<v Speaker 1>road warriors in the street. Yeah, Atlanta would not farewell, Yeah,

0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.480
<v Speaker 1>with this situation at all. But the heat side conscious

0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.200
<v Speaker 1>sign we could. We could probably roll with that pretty

0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.440
<v Speaker 1>much what we do in the summer anymore. Yeah, you're right, right,

0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.800
<v Speaker 1>I mean, actually like eight months of a year. Yeah,

0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.520
<v Speaker 1>you hear us Florida, you hear us Alabama. All right,

0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:49.560
<v Speaker 1>So tell us what you think about all that. Do

0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.080
<v Speaker 1>you have any thoughts on a tidally locked world? You

0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.359
<v Speaker 1>have some other great examples from science fiction you would

0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.000
<v Speaker 1>like to do or fantasy you would like to share

0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.119
<v Speaker 1>with us. There is I mean, there's a whole wonderful

0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.920
<v Speaker 1>sub genre of to see zi fi with the dying

0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.639
<v Speaker 1>art scenario where you have the sun dying, and I

0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.760
<v Speaker 1>think I did a blog post about that a while back.

0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.639
<v Speaker 1>It's the fascinating zone of imagination. But I have not

0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:12.920
<v Speaker 1>encountered much in the way of tidily locked world. So

0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.520
<v Speaker 1>send me some examples. I would especially again love to

0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.760
<v Speaker 1>hear examples that take weather into account. Yeah, especially if

0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.040
<v Speaker 1>if you've ever come across, uh, some sort of idea

0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:26.120
<v Speaker 1>of an extra planet with half of the planet being

0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.760
<v Speaker 1>a snow globe. Yeah, that's that's That's all I'm interested in, really,

0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.160
<v Speaker 1>the snow globe part of it. Snow global girl. Yeah

0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:33.639
<v Speaker 1>all right. Well, hey, if you want to share it

0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:35.359
<v Speaker 1>with us, you can find us on Facebook. You can

0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.800
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0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.480
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0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.119
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0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:50.919
<v Speaker 1>line at Blow the Mind at Discovery dot com. Be

0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.640
<v Speaker 1>sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff from

0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.520
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0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.639
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