Purely Hypothetical

About Purely Hypothetical

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What is this?

Purely Hypothetical is a daily exploration of impossible, improbable, and thought-provoking questions. Each day, a new hypothetical gets the deep-dive treatment — not a quick answer, but a genuine attempt to think through what would actually happen.

Some questions are scientific. Some are philosophical. Some are absurd. All of them are worth thinking about.

Who writes this?

I’m Mark Andrews — a writer and thinker who has always been fascinated by “what if” questions. The kind that keep you up at night, or spark a two-hour conversation over dinner.

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Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

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But what if it did? What would it say? Would it contain the answer to life’s greatest question, or just another listicle about hypothetical scenarios?

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Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Last updated: 18 May 2026

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What If the Moon Disappeared Overnight?

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You probably don’t think about the Moon much. It’s there, it does its thing, it looks nice when it’s full. Maybe you’ve photographed it with your phone and been disappointed by the tiny white dot you got back. But the Moon is doing more work than any celestial body has a right to, and most of it happens without anyone noticing.

So let’s remove it. Instantly. One night it’s there, the next it isn’t. No explosion, no slow drift outward. Just gone.

What If Everyone on Earth Jumped at the Same Time?

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It’s the most asked hypothetical in physics classrooms worldwide. A teacher mentions Newton’s Third Law, and someone’s hand shoots up: “But what if everyone on Earth jumped at the same time?”

I’ve always loved this question because the interesting answer isn’t the physics. It’s the logistics.

The physics (disappointing)

Let’s get this out of the way. Earth’s mass is approximately 5.97 × 10²⁴ kilograms. The combined mass of all 8 billion humans is roughly 560 billion kilograms, or 5.6 × 10¹¹ kg.

What If Humans Could Photosynthesize?

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Picture this: your skin is a soft green. Not sickly, but vibrant, like a leaf catching June sunlight. You step outside in the morning, not for your commute, but because you’re hungry. Fifteen minutes of direct sun and you feel full. Your skin is feeding you.

Humans who photosynthesise. No food industry, no famine, no grocery bills. Sounds utopian. But would it actually work?

The energy problem

Here’s the uncomfortable maths. A human body needs roughly 2,000 kilocalories per day to function. Photosynthesis in plants converts about 1-2% of incoming solar energy into chemical energy (glucose). The sun delivers approximately 1,000 watts per square metre at ground level on a clear day.

What If Gravity Suddenly Reversed?

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I want you to imagine something. You’re sitting in your chair, coffee in hand, scrolling through your phone. Then, without warning, you feel yourself lifting. Your coffee rises from the mug in a perfect sphere. The chair beneath you falls away from you. Or rather, you fall away from it. Upward. Toward the ceiling.

Gravity has reversed.

Not weakened. Not vanished. Reversed. Every object on Earth now falls upward with the same 9.8 m/s² we’ve always known, just pointed the wrong way.