Subject: 69:4/6857 Gravity and Gas Giants
Roger Sanger writes...
T::>One comment about your ideas concerning gaming on the surface of
::>a gas giant:
T::>The gravity on the surface of a gas giant would be sufficient to
::>literal crush a human, or even a starship. They are typically
::>MANY thousands of times greater mass than the earth.
Not necessarily. The "archetypical" gas giant is in our own solar
system, named Jupiter, and has an (estimated) surface G of 2.65.
Larger gas giants would have higher surface Gs, but remember that
gas giants are much less dense than your typical terrestrial
planet, and surface G increases as the radius does; mass increases
as the cube of the radius, assuming constant density. Atmospheric
pressure seems to be a different issue; we are talking about
hundreds if not thousands of standard atmospheres.
T::>Theorhetically, you could build something that could withstand
::>that kind of environment, but humans wouldn't be able to go,
::>because the maximum G-level that can be nullified is 6 g's.
... which, see above, is well above what a Jupiter-type planet
will offer. Saturn, if I recall, has a surface G of 1.17, and
Uranus and Neptune are slightly lower than Saturn. Again, we're
looking at a pressure problem rather than a gravity problem.
T::>The main problem with pulling too many G's on the human body is
::>when the pull of gravity is greater than the heart's ability to
::>pump the blood against it to the brain. This results in not
::>enough blood reaching the brain, and results in the subject
::>blacking out.
Which can certainly be a problem even in 2.64g, as the body is
acclimated to 1g. A person on Jupiter _could_ work, but only for
short periods, and would have to spend a lot of time lying down,
and get up or lie down _slowly_, to avoid fainting.
T::>In extreme gravity situations, providing oxygen would be a moot
::>issue, because the various mechanisms of cellular metabolism
::>would be hampered too greatly by the force of gravity to function
::>properly. Just as you wouldn't be able to move due to your own
::>incredible weight, neither would your mitochondria.
Again, see above. In 2,64g, this is probably not going to be too
much of a problem, though extended exposure is clearly not
recommended.
The stuff on free radicals and fluorocarbons was interesting; I do
want to note that I have seen (on TV, for what it's worth)
information that seems to indicate that they have had small
mammals survive quite nicely for "long" periods breathing
fluorocarbons. For game purposes, I wouldn't rule it out totally.
It's plausible enough.
==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin [email removed]
- ---
~ QMPro 1.52 ~ Spindle & Mutilate. See if I care.