Samuel Chiltern answered
If there was no sunlight for just one day, then earth would be cold, and dark, but I don't think the outcome would be catastrophic.
Certain parts of the earth experience total darkness for six months of the year at a time (the North pole and South pole). These places are very cold, but well-adapted creatures are still able to live there.
Of course, apart from the polar extremes, everywhere else experiences night-time once a day. A whole day without sunlight would be similar to the darkest part of night, but without any moonlight, (because that is just light reflected from the sun).
For the short period of one day, the surface of the earth would still retain a lot of the heat it had already absorbed. I imagine it would begin to lose significant amounts if the darkness continued for longer than a day, however.
Don't forget, though, that the earth generates its own heat from within its core, and that this would continue to rise through geo-thermal activity. This means that areas near volcanoes and geysers would still remain warm, regardless of the lack of sunlight.
I'm sure most plants and animals would survive for a day, and imagine that nocturnal creatures would have the upper hand in this scenario. The animals that hunt during the daytime might struggle to catch prey, but many larger carnivores are used to not eating every day, anyway.
I can imagine many animals being confused by the lack of daylight so, for example, birds might simply roost all day long, and this might be catastrophic to those who need to eat frequently.
As humans, we could all just stay indoors and turn the heating on for a day. But of course your scenario is impossible, because the sun can't just be turned off!
Certain parts of the earth experience total darkness for six months of the year at a time (the North pole and South pole). These places are very cold, but well-adapted creatures are still able to live there.
Of course, apart from the polar extremes, everywhere else experiences night-time once a day. A whole day without sunlight would be similar to the darkest part of night, but without any moonlight, (because that is just light reflected from the sun).
For the short period of one day, the surface of the earth would still retain a lot of the heat it had already absorbed. I imagine it would begin to lose significant amounts if the darkness continued for longer than a day, however.
Don't forget, though, that the earth generates its own heat from within its core, and that this would continue to rise through geo-thermal activity. This means that areas near volcanoes and geysers would still remain warm, regardless of the lack of sunlight.
I'm sure most plants and animals would survive for a day, and imagine that nocturnal creatures would have the upper hand in this scenario. The animals that hunt during the daytime might struggle to catch prey, but many larger carnivores are used to not eating every day, anyway.
I can imagine many animals being confused by the lack of daylight so, for example, birds might simply roost all day long, and this might be catastrophic to those who need to eat frequently.
As humans, we could all just stay indoors and turn the heating on for a day. But of course your scenario is impossible, because the sun can't just be turned off!
