From: John K Clark (johnkc@well.com)
Date: Sun Jun 21 1998 - 14:07:53 MDT
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In looking for a good home planet for space a exploring species how about a
planet that had lots of heavy elements so it was 4 times as dense as the
Earth but only 2000 miles in diameter. The Earth would have 64 times the
volume and 16 times the mass, but the gravity on the surface of this small
world would be exactly the same as we have, 1g. The good part is that the
escape velocity would only be 1/16 that of the Earth. The horizon would be a
little close but otherwise things would seem perfectly earth-like on the
surface, however you could put a billet into orbit with a hand gun, and with
a rifle you could hit the moon.
The bad part is that the ability to keep an atmosphere depends on the escape
velocity not the surface gravity, so such a planet wouldn't be able to retain
one for a very long time, at least not from a geological point of view.
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
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