Question: hey ceri, thankyou for answering my questions earlier, you inspired me. i want to know, when will there be too many people i the world, and could we possibly fall off the earth if there was something like a powercut in gravity?] thanks, please reply :D

Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 16 Jun 2010:

Hi- well firstly I think that the Earth’s global population is already putting a strain on resources but I don’t know when there will be so many people that it starts to affect everyone on the planet. Our current growth rate is abut 70 million people every year! It could be a very big problem in some countries like India where the population is already vast. In other nations population growth may not be so large due to cultural or socio-economic reasons.

As for Gravity. Well if it did stop the consequences would be DIRE! We would rapidly loose our atmosphere- we would loose our orbital relationships with the moon and sun- life would suffocate/ have to deal with a dramatic drop in pressure/float out to space! I would not like to be around if that happened. However- there is NO need to worry. Gravitational Force is one of the Fundamental Laws of our Universe. The probability of this law changing is so low you would be more likely to win the lottery every year for the rest of your life. No one knows why the Fundamental Laws are as they are but without them the universe would be a VERY different place- we probably wouldn’t be here for a start!