Has anyone thought about creatures would be on high gravity planets?

Discussion in 'Earth Science' started by dinokg, Jul 1, 2003.

  1. dinokg Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    306
    A creature on a planet with a thousand times earths gravity would have about a thousand times the strenghth of and earth creature and vice versa. Humans would have a thousand times there strength on a moon like Phobos. (It's one of Mar's two moons) Its has 1 thousandth the gravity of earth so it you can lift 100 pounds on earth you could lift 100,000 pounds on Phobos.

    It would be like having super powers.

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  3. eburacum45 Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, well there are a few problems with living on high gravity planets- you would hardly be able to stand up for a start.

    Maybe a 1.5g world would produce aliens built like weightlifters, who would be extravagantly strong if relocated to earth-

    but any gravity greater than that would require a radical redesign, no doubt ruling out erect biped like humans.
    A four-legged, six-legged or multiple-legged creature with legs like an elephant's, yet only a few feet tall-
    these creatures would be very strong, certainly, but very alien to our eyes.
    Used to a thick atmosphere they might even suffer decompression effects on our world-
    possibly even rupture or explode;
    although they would almost certainly not be oxygen breathers, as high gee worlds retain too much hydrogen for free oxygen to develop.

    If you are talking about a thousand time's earths gravity- well, you are almost in the realms of the neutron star, here, and any inhabitant would probably be bizarre and a fraction of an inch tall.
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  5. Zero Banned Banned

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    Their body's materials would be fundamentally different frmo ours.

    Maybe they would develop very thick, rocky sort of coatings....like organic stone, almost?
     
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  7. Vortexx Skull & Bones Spokesman Registered Senior Member

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    Bird like creatures would be unlikely to develope, Water based floating fish would have a much better change in various gravity conditions.

    Also, for landbased creatures, natures evolution would probably prefer creatures with a very high strength to bodyweight ratio, such as ANTlike creatures etc...
     
  8. I would guess that the extreme gravity, and consequently super-dense matter, would preclude the emergence of sentient bipeds, or any mobile organism, for that matter.

    Though I suppose the possibility of any life at all might be eliminated by these adverse conditions, I consider it probable that plant-life, or fungus, could subsist in preponderance in such a "heavy" environment.
     
  9. Thomo Registered Senior Member

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    77
    would a spherical shape be the best way to overcome extreme gravity? or a pyramid maybe
     
  10. Fafnir665 You just got served. Registered Senior Member

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    1,979

    Flat and spread out would probably be the least strained one.
     
  11. Clockwood You Forgot Poland Registered Senior Member

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    4,467
    Land critters with exoskeletons would have to shed their old carapaces underwater when they want to grow. They would otherwise have their unhardened shells crushed by their own weight.
     
  12. I think primitive flora and fungoid parasites would be the most likely candidates.
     
  13. Specialist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    46
    After reading this thread and doing a little calculation it turns out that with a big enough planet, it's escape velocity will equal the speed of light if it has a radius and mass 72,00 times the size of earth's.

    Of course before that happens it will collapse under it's own gravity.
    Imagine if it could sustain it self, forming a livable environment on the surface. They would never be able to escape their planet

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    Code:
    > # Rmv^2=2GMm
    > # G=6.672*10^-11 N m^2 kg^-2
    > # R=6378.137 km
    > # v=c=3*10^8 km/s
    > restart: Digits=100:
    > c=sqrt(2*G*M/R);
                                             G M
                            c = sqrt(2) sqrt(---)
                                              R
    
    > mr:=(5.976*10^24)/(6378.137):
    > solve(c=sqrt(2*G*r),r); // assume escaple velocity is c, r is m/r ratio
    
                                         2
                                        c
                                   1/2 ----
                                        G
    
    > 'mr'=0.5*(3*10^8)^2/(6.672*10^(-11)); // earth's mass to radius ratio
    
                                               27
                            mr = .6744604317 10
    
    > solve(x*mr=0.5*(3*10^8)^2/(6.672*10^(-11)),x); 
    
                                 719846.2239
    
    > 'Radius'=6378.137*719846.2239;
    
                                                 10
                          Radius = .4591277835 10
    
     
  14. Fafnir665 You just got served. Registered Senior Member

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    1,979
    What if black holes are not as we understand them, and life lives on their infinitesimly small surfcae, what would their sky look like?
     
  15. eburacum45 Valued Senior Member

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    The event horizon is only a one way barrier- you would still be able to see the universe in all directions, although the light would be strangely altered (blue shifted IIRC)
    and distorted by the black hole's rotation (if any).

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  16. spoilsport Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    90
    Are you sure? One would think the increased air density would create enough buoyancy to cancel out increased gravity, but I may be wrong. Hey, that makes me think of something interesting though, some kind of floating "fish" that inhales and exhales to change it's density (thus the position in the air it floats at. That would be sweet.
     
  17. river-wind Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,671
    maybe the things would switch over to a fluid-sac based movement system, instead of muscules. something similar to what spiders use. That would reduce the body weight while alowing for stronger power output.
     
  18. dinokg Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    306
    Hears something else that might happen on a high gravity planet.

    The creatures might some how evolve a natural version of anti-gravity!
     
  19. splunk yo' mama so fat... Registered Senior Member

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    38
    creatures here already have that. we call them "birds"
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2003
  20. dinokg Registered Senior Member

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    306
    Birds don't use anti-gravity to fly they use their wings the make a strong enough air current for flight.

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    But what I'm talking about is a natural form of anti gravity. Even though it hasn't evolved on earth it could evolve elsewhere. Anyways animals like dolphins developed sonar way before people invented it so why not the same thing with anti-gravity?
     
  21. splunk yo' mama so fat... Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    38
    lol true enough

    but if the planet is REALLY 1000 times earth gravity, it seems a poor place to develop natural anti-grav abilities, if im thinkin of the same kinda anti-grav.

    u mean like... hovercars? cuz im thinkin "morph" from Treasure Planet
     
  22. dinokg Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    306
    Hovering would probably be better than anti-gravity or regular flying. It would especially be good with a flat creature.

    All it would need two do would have some type of propulsion system like regular breathing in and out air and it could move around rapidly!

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  23. splunk yo' mama so fat... Registered Senior Member

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    that would hafta be one hell of a set of lungs for a creature thats supposed to be flat... (or air sacs or whatever)

    the breathing thing works for clams, but we're talkin non-aquatic atmosphere here... im thinkin more like a helium balloon kinda deal. round and bloated as opposed to flat
     

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