Can life survive in low gravity or zero gravity indefinitely?
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M$3 Answers
surface gravities clumps around factors of about 2.5 and favors worlds with about one-sixth Earth gravity, conventionally considered too small to retain atmospheres. Titan, however, shows that low surface gravity does not, in itself, preclude the presence a substantial atmosphere. Where small worlds have low exobase temperatures,and protection from stellar winds, substantial atmospheres may be retained. Significantly lower surface gravity affects a number of physical phenomena that affect environment and technological evolution--most significantly, heavier than air flight is easier and
races evolved under such conditions should reach space at an earlier level of development. It is proposed that low gravity worlds in other planetary systems could be the sites of native or transplanted interstellar settlement, and, perhaps, be the majority of such sites. The most important thing a habitable planet has to do is to retain a biologically compatible atmosphere. A planet on which life evolves to intelligence must retain its atmosphere for billions of years. A planet which has been terraformed may only need to retain an atmosphere for a few thousand years (it can, of course, be replenished), a much less stringent condition. There are two main ways that an atmosphere leaks away from a planet. They are thermal evaporation and "pick-up" by the solar Surface Gravity and Interstellar Settlement G. D. Nordley 3 wind. Gravity is important in the former mechanism and not so
much in the latter. In thermal evaporation, atoms that exceed escape velocity at the top of the atmosphere can generally be considered to have escaped (Titan, as we shall see, is a little different). In solar wind pick-up, magnetic fields generated by passing solar wind ions accelerate atmosphere ions to escape. Preventing muscle loss in space is simple: Just spend an hour a day in a giant human centrifuge that’s spinning at 30 rotations per minute. And don’t lose your lunch. Scientists still don’t know why the “use it or lose it” adage holds true for muscles. But astronauts start losing muscle mass within days of entering a zero-gravity environment, and the longer they stay in space, the more their muscles shrink. On Earth, elderly hospital patients can lose more than a kilogram of muscle in just three days of lying in bed.
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M$If there no gravity it would be very bad. We depend on gravity to hold things down . Things such as cars,people,pencils,furniture and papers depend on gravity. If there is no gravity everything will start floating.If there is no gravity air will leap to space and water will not stay down in oceans,lakes and rivers.
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M$What happens to the body physically without gravity?
Does bone marrow reduce?
Does blood production drop?
The physical body will become weak because there will be a loss of muscle tissue and bone strength.The bone marrow will reduce,.bones will be weaker and blood count will drop.The heart will become weaker because it needs less blood to pump through the body.
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M$
Are you suggesting, if Earth's mass was 1/6 then the gravitational pull would not be strong enough to keep an atmosphere.
If the earth's mass was 1/6 then I think that the gravitational pull would be strong enough to hold an atmosphere but not for very long. For life to develop, an atmosphere MUST be held in place for billions of years to reach the technology we have so far on Earth. If the gravitational pull is not strong enough to hold the atmosphere then there would be no evolution of life, for insects or humans.
The earth's mass seems balanced to keep an atmosphere.
Are you suggesting, if Earth's mass was 1/6 then the gravitational pull would not be strong enough to keep an atmosphere.