# Suppose you could turn off gravity... what would happen to the solar system?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-could-turn-off-gravity-what-would-happen-to-the-solar-system/105946>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 27, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-could-turn-off-gravity-what-would-happen-to-the-solar-system/105946 "2002-04-27T13:30:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-could-turn-off-gravity-what-would-happen-to-the-solar-system/105946/1 "2002-04-27T13:30:01Z")

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Would the planets immediately smear themselves into expanding dirt/gas clouds?

Would the sun go out? Explode?

What would be the biggest thing left cohesive enough to hold itself together?

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suppose-you-could-turn-off-gravity-what-would-happen-to-the-solar-system/105946/2 "2002-04-27T13:50:33Z")

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Planets and stars will indeed explode and scatter. The galaxy itself will disintegrate and scatter. All remaining forces come in pairs - positive and negative. So they cancel each other over long distances. Large asteroids and fragments of planets will survive, but that’s about it.

Shouldn’t this be in GQ?