There is no reason to think about the question: What happens on Earth if the atmosphere disappears. And yet, if the planet gradually loses its atmosphere by liters, releasing air into space, how will everything go on?
And if the atmosphere disappears instantly, then everything will die? Will the planet be able to recover after this? Yes, we have no apparent cause for concern, but the question is entertaining.
Sound requires a medium for transmitting waves - silence will come in an airless space. We can still feel vibrations on the ground, but we will not hear anything. Birds and planes will no longer be able to take to the sky.
Although we cannot directly see air (other than clouds), it has a certain mass that supports flying objects. Without an atmosphere, the sky will become cosmically black. This atmosphere makes the sky blue. You have probably come across photographs of the celestial sphere taken from the Moon - the sky on Earth will become the same gloomy black.
Earth without atmosphere
All unprotected plant and animal life on the Earth's surface will die. We will not be able to survive in a vacuum that reigns on the planet if the atmosphere suddenly disappears.
Temperature and pressure will change. Even wearing an oxygen mask, you will not be able to breathe. The diaphragm uses the pressure difference between the air inside the lungs and outside the body to inhale.
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Suppose you have a pressurized suit (space suit is hard to find) and air. Well, you can live - not long and painfully - it will work, but you will get a massive sunburn on your skin, since the Earth's atmosphere filters solar radiation.
It is difficult to say how many problems will fall on the dark side of the planet, but being in direct sunlight is extremely bad.
Rivers, lakes and oceans will boil. Boiling occurs when the vapor pressure of the liquid exceeds the external pressure. In a vacuum, water boils easily, even if the temperature is not high. Although the water boils, water vapor will not replenish atmospheric pressure. An equilibrium point will be reached when there is enough water vapor to prevent the oceans from being devastated. The remaining water will most likely freeze earlier.
Eventually (long after surface life died), solar radiation will rip atmospheric water into oxygen, which will react with the planet's carbon to form carbon dioxide. The atmosphere will be too thin to breathe.
Lack of atmosphere will cool the Earth's surface
We are not talking about absolute cold, but the temperature will drop below zero. Water vapor from the oceans will act as a greenhouse gas, raising temperatures.
Unfortunately, the warmer temperatures will squeeze more water out of the sea and into the air - this will likely contain the greenhouse effect and make the planet look more like Venus than Mars. By the way, Mars had an atmosphere in its past, and then lost it for extremely bad reasons.
Plants and land animals will die. The fish and the bird will die. Most aquatic organisms will die. In general, all organisms that need air for breathing will die.
However, some bacteria can be expected to survive, so losing the atmosphere won't kill all life on Earth. For example, chemosynthetic bacteria do not even notice the loss of the atmosphere, and a number of extremophiles can survive.
Volcanoes and geothermal vents will continue to pump out carbon dioxide and other gases to add to the water. The biggest difference between the original and the new atmosphere will be much lower nitrogen content. Earth could replenish nitrogen from meteor impacts, but much of it will be lost forever.
Will people be able to survive the loss of atmosphere?
A very interesting question, isn't it? Consider two options that might give humans a chance to survive on Earth that has lost its atmosphere. You can build radiation-shielded domes on the surface of the Earth (we are preparing for the apocalypse in advance). As you know, a living skeptic (paranoid) is better than a lifeless optimist.
Domes need a pressurized atmosphere, there will be air, and the ability to support plant life. True, it takes time to build a biodome, but the end result will not be very different from trying to survive on another planet in an alien environment. - In any case, it is better to prepare in advance to survive.
An easier solution would be to build domes in the underwater world. In this way, water can provide pressure and can also filter out solar radiation.
It's probably not worth filtering out all the radiation as we will be growing plants. By the way, survivors of the "end of the world" will learn delicious ways of cooking bacteria as food, which is what post-apocalyptic science fiction writers write about.
Could the Earth lose its atmosphere?
The Earth's magnetic field protects the atmosphere from the loss of plasma clouds and solar radiation. Perhaps the massive ejection of the solar superstorm could burn the atmosphere. Another likely scenario is atmospheric loss due to massive meteor impact.
Large impacts have occurred several times on the inner planets of the system, including Earth. The gas molecules gain enough energy to escape gravity, but only a fraction of the atmosphere is lost. Or even the atmosphere will ignite under the influence of a technogenic chemical reaction, completely burnt out.
But in general, there is no reason for concern, we have considered only a hypothetical scenario of the apocalypse.