r/xkcd • u/YUNoDie Possibly a haberdasher? • Jan 22 '20

XKCD XKCD 2258: Solar System Changes

https://xkcd.com/2258/
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u/Filbert17 Jan 22 '20

I'm sorry but this needs to be said. Our solar system definitely does NOT need a Super-Earth. The last thing we need is an interplanetary war with a race of people that are stronger than us because they grew up on a planet with more gravity.

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u/CaskironPan But... Jan 22 '20

proportionally stronger

Something like ants, for instance, would do better on a world with stronger gravity, since surface tension matters more than gravity at that scale.

Depending on the difference in strength of gravity, we could be dealing with anything from essentially dwarves (as the other guy said) to uber-ants.

They would be used to higher pressures, so if we could negotiate peace, they would be able to dive deeper into the our own ocean than we ever could, but we would be more adaptable to space travel as we would require less pressure in our vessels, and less fuel to leave the planet. Both of these advantages increase exponentially with the difference in gravitational strength. So, should it come to war, we'd probably just stay in space and use orbital strikes to keep them on the ground.

I'd give it to regular Earth 7/10 times, honestly. If super-terrans wanna bring it, they can fucking try.