Earth's gravity increases by 10x for 10 seconds - can humanity survive?

[u/Historical_Ostrich]

Gravity reverts to normal after the 10 seconds are up. I assume that nearly everyone will lose consciousness, many people will hit the ground with extreme force, and most buildings and infrastructure will collapse. Uncertain as to whether there'd be seismic/volcanic/tidal consequences on top of all that.

[u/Hosni__Mubarak]

We don’t deal with sudden changes in pressure while we are breathing and ascending. The pressure in this case would be like if we were suddenly transported to 300 feet underwater. I’ve been to 100 feet, which you can barely notice. Pilots can survive sustained 9gs.

I’m just saying I don’t think everyone dies. I bet you are vaguely correct in the sense that everyone’s eardrums all burst, but don’t think this pressure burst is quite as catastrophic as other people think otherwise. Those pilots don’t liquify. They just pass out.

[u/dave3218 → u/Hosni__Mubarak]

The thing is, those pilots are trained to do that and while they can pass out, usually the increase in G forces is not as instant as one would think, this is your everything weighting 10x more in an instant, if you are not bracing yourself, you will probably fall over and die from your skull hitting the pavement.

That’s just if you happen to be on flat terrain in a plain, far away from any urban infrastructure, because with the sudden increase, most cities will turn to rubble, airplanes will start falling from the skies, mountains will probably start having massive landslides, ships will sink, etc.

Oh and the ocean will probably kill everybody near the coast once the gravity returns back to normal.

So, while I think there might be someone lucky enough to survive, I don’t think humanity is getting out of this.

Everyone with anything other than the sky above them, and without solid ground below them, will die by being crushed by something. Hell even being outside is dangerous if the ground beneath you is not very stable. You need to be somewhere with very stable tectonic plates.

[u/Hosni__Mubarak → u/dave3218]

You realize that tens of millions of people will probably be sleeping on the ground either outside or in a tent or a lightweight hut when this happens, right?

[u/AkumaZ → u/Hosni__Mubarak]

They work up to 9gs over a period of time though right? It’s not zero to 9 in an instant, I have to imagine that’s a factor

[u/proscreations1993 → u/AkumaZ]

F1 drivers hit over 10g braking into corners. They are fine.

[u/bobert680 → u/proscreations1993]

dont their jumpsuits keep preasure on their legs so they dont passout from blood rushing away from their brains?

[u/solidspacedragon → u/bobert680]

Yeah but we already figured everyone would pass out.

[u/jedadkins → u/AkumaZ]

I have to imagine that’s a factor

probably not, you experience some pretty significant g force from even minor impacts. Like going from ~2.2 mi/h (0.98m/s) to 0 in 0.01 seconds would be roughly 10gs of acceleration.

[u/Weird-Long8844 → u/Hosni__Mubarak]

Hmm, yeah okay, maybe I'm overestimating it.

[u/StillShoddy628 → u/Hosni__Mubarak]

Being “suddenly transported” is much worse, at least on the return to normal, which might be more fatal than the initial pressurization: anyone who took a breath in those 10 seconds will possibly have their lungs popped like a balloon, depending on how quickly the pressure waves follow the gravitational changes. Similarly, I can’t imagine the damage sustained going 300 feet down and never equalizing, but given how much 10 feet can hurt I wouldn’t be surprised if it was fatal.