The Earth around the Sun

In order for the Earth to leave its orbit around the sun, something would have to supply it with the energy required to do so and it's a lot of energy.

Brandon is correct. Changing to a higher orbit takes a lot of energy.

What people would experience depends a lot on whether na collision or massive explosion is involved.

Thanks a lot; I was thinking of something else (a comet, maybe?) affecting the Earth's orbit, and sending the planet out of it...

If an object massive enough to impart that much energy hit the Earth, the impact would be a major problem. If something massive enough to pull the Earth off course without actually touching it flew by, I still think there would be a lot of damage from the gravity gradient, but I suppose it's possible. It seems unlikely for a massive enough object to come so close with all the space around that isn't that close to the Earth.

I would think that would be a mass extinction event.

Yes, that's true, but that doesn't help me at all.

Thanks for your time, nevertheless.

I hadn't consider having an object impacting the Earth, but I agree that the damage from the gravity gradient would be one of the worst problems.

Thanks.