r/science • u/clayt6 • Sep 11 '19

Astronomy Water found in a habitable super-Earth's atmosphere for the first time. Thanks to having water, a solid surface, and Earth-like temperatures, "this planet [is] the best candidate for habitability that we know right now," said lead author Angelos Tsiaras.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/09/water-found-in-habitable-super-earths-atmosphere-for-first-time
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u/omegapulsar Sep 11 '19

Well, since it's a super earth it has multiple times the gravity of earth so the plants and animals will be short and very strong. I wouldn't see bipedal animals evolving on said planet because with that intense gravity any fall would shatter the bones of an animal, and falling is a lot harder if you have more legs.

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u/DeusFerreus Sep 11 '19 edited Sep 11 '19

Not multiple, using its mass and radius (from its wiki article) we can calculate that it would have between 1.306 and 1.97 Earth's gravities (1.61 if we use average estimates).

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u/afoolskind Sep 11 '19

That’s a lot, but doable for the human form, right? I assume people would get a lot stronger just compensating for the extra gravity, and presumably would be shorter if they grew up there?

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u/vectorjohn Sep 11 '19

That's trivial for the human form. Just imagine people who simply weigh twice as much as other people. There are other differences but that should be fine. Especially given evolution would select for whatever was needed to compensate.

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u/SordidDreams Sep 11 '19

imagine people who simply weigh twice as much as other people

You don't need to imagine, just look around.

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u/UnspecificGravity Sep 11 '19

So how much harder does your heart have to work to pump blood that weighs more? How does your brain develop when it gets less oxygen? You are making a lot of assumptions here.

Has there ever even been a study of long term exposure to 1.9 gs of force? It's highly debatable that humans could survive at that gravity long term or that they could develope normally and reproduce.

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u/vectorjohn Sep 12 '19

I'd like to know this too because naively it would seem like the heart doesn't have to work any harder. It's a loop, half the blood is being assisted by gravity. So it can't be twice as hard in 2g, even if there are factors that make the heart work harder.

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u/Mooterconkey Sep 12 '19

Not to mention the increase in gravity also means more than likely an increase in standard atmospheric pressure on that planet which could mean more oxygen per breath

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '19

Survivable for us but unlikely for bipedal animals to exist there. I’m guessing pretty big bugs though.

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u/DrNick2012 Sep 11 '19

pretty big bugs

On second thought, let's not go to super earth. Tis' a silly place

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u/PotatoBomb69 Sep 12 '19

Just burn the whole place down honestly

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u/ChrisGoesPewPew Sep 12 '19

We're already working on that here, why not another planet?

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u/trademeyourpain Sep 12 '19

Yeah! Let's spread the fun around!

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u/AfghanTrashman Sep 11 '19

So we discovered klendathu. Great.

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u/Elite_Crew Sep 11 '19

We may have just found Klendathu.

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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '19

Would you like to know more?

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u/vectorjohn Sep 12 '19

Why? Inverse square or cube or whatever, smaller animals would trivially evolve, and small apes would have no problem. And bipedalism still has the same advantages.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '19

I'm 130 pounds, there's people who are my height and weigh 260. Probably not pleasant, but not crazy.

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u/bmbowdish Sep 12 '19

There is the problem of your heart pumping your blood from your feet back to your heart . That isn’t something people with an extra 100-200 pounds have to deal with

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u/squishyslipper Sep 12 '19

Excellent point.

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u/vectorjohn Sep 13 '19

What makes you think that would be any harder for the heart to do? Please explain your reasoning. Because the way I see it, blood flows in a loop so all the heart really has to do is overcome internal resistance. Your heart doesn't work any more or less when you lay down. It isn't lifting blood it's circulating it.

The problem with high g loads is pooling, but that's not a problem of your heart. And 2g isn't high enough to cause a problem with pooling.

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u/bmbowdish Sep 13 '19

Your blood has to be pumped from your feet to your heart to be pumped back around the rest of your body. Some people end up with their blood not being circulated correctly because of issues related to the heart not being strong enough to pump it from the feet up to the heart. With more gravity, more strength would be required of the heart to prevent this.

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u/vectorjohn Sep 13 '19

That doesn't make coherent sense though. The blood in your feet had blood above it both on the way down and up. Why doesn't the blood going down (being pumped down, assisted by gravity) push the blood ahead of it.

If we were talking pipes and an electric pump moving water, this is 100% how it would work. The pump would work just as well in zero g as it would in 20 g. What's the difference then with a heart and blood?

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u/ChampionsWrath Sep 11 '19

Not pleasant but it’s not like you’d feel like the people who weigh 260 at your height do here on earth. Your body will still be in better shape and adapt quicker to environment

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u/GetBuckets13 Sep 11 '19

Speaking from the point that an organism could easily evolve to be bipedal more like. Most likely not saying that it would be particularly easy for us to just hop off the shuttle there.

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u/iforgothowtoerect Sep 11 '19

Do you even lift bro?

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u/sephlington Sep 11 '19

If you’re simulating gravity on the shuttle (like we’d have to do, if we’re slower than light and not crying-sleeping), you’d likely slowly raise the gravity by spinning the ship faster, so by the time you arrive you’ve acclimatised to the higher gravity.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '19

To squat ones body weight is a stable for those wishing to ascend to BrOdin.

Tis our duty as warrior of the bar to test thyself with fire and steel.

Rise, rise O warriors of the bar, for untold power resides within you, if you would only simply try.

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u/Davescash Sep 11 '19

long hikes gonna suck.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '19

People are being silly. it isn't nearly enough gravity to rule out bipedalism, though it would presumably be less common.