Secrets at the heart of Kerbin

[hjalfi]

So Kerbin has a surface gravity of 9.8 m/s³ (a very pretty coincidence there) and a diameter of 600km. This gives it a density of 58000 kg/m^3.

This is hugely, weirdly, scarily high. Earth's is about 5500 kg/m³. The densest known material (under STP) is osmium, which comes in at about 23000 kg/m³; I see a few references that the synthetic element hassium (atomic number 108) will have a density of about 41000 kg/m³ if anyone ever makes enough of it to measure. But that's still not enough. Plus it has a half life of 12 minutes so even if you did have enough of it, you wouldn't have it for very long.

Therefore the only plausible explanation for Kerbin's ludicrous density is that it has a core of some kind of degenerate matter.

Electron degenerate matter is the stuff you normally get in the cores of stars. It's ludicrously dense... for a gas: it goes up to about 10000 kg/m³.

The next step is neutron degenerate matter, a.k.a. neutronium; with a density starting at about 10⁹ kg/m³ you'd only need a sphere of the stuff 47 km across. (Minus some to account for the rock padding needed to form the planet we all know and love and crash into.) The only problem is that AFAIK you can't have neutronium bodies smaller than 1.4 solar masses, or they explode.

(There is also proton degenerate matter which is somewhere in between, but it seems to be rare and I can't find any references as to how dense it is. And there's quark degenerate matter, but that's even denser that neutronium and is scary.)

So, unless some ancient god-like being put a blob of neutronium at the center of Kirbin inside a very strong box so it wouldn't explode, there is only one candidate left:

Kirbin's core is a black hole.

Just a small one, and the rest of the planet is otherwise ordinary rock; a black hole with a mass that of Kirbin's would have a radius of about 10 microns, so while it would be sucking in mass, it's not doing it very fast. And while small block holes do evaporate over time, converting their mass to energy increasingly more quickly as they shrink until they finally explode in a planet-destroying blaze of energy, this one will take about 1e52 seconds to do so.

But it's still something to look forward to.

[Kosmo-not]

Kerbin is hollow (except for the black hole in the center). If you were to somehow penetrate the crust, you would observe that the force of gravity continues to increase. We've seen this in past versions of KSP. This supports there being a black hole at the center of Kerbin.

[Letum]

Could be that dark matter is far denser or more concentrated in the Kerbal universe.

Edit: I prefer Kosmo's theory. Kerbin is hollow.

[r_rolo1]

So , in resume , someone made a Dyson sphere around a black hole . Maybe the inner inhabitants throw stuff at the black hole and let the gravity smashdown to power them ?

But anyway things do not compute even with a black hole. How do you explain the Mun ? Another black hole inside a box ? And as we are there, of what the hell is Minmus made? It looks like ice, but if it was ice it would had vaporized away a long time ago ( and it is there a long time ago since it is tidally locked to Kerbin ... ) .... the only thing I can think off is that it is made of some kind of glass, but that is even worse ( that is quite a chunk of it )

[Master]

Its a game. I would have preferred they made it more realistic but it was a design decision to make it more gamey and less complicated for new players. At least that was what I remember them saying when it was first released over a year ago.

[sal_vager]

Master, KSP has realistic orbital physics, which is the backbone of the game, and it is intended to be approachable, if you want a hardcore simulation there is Orbiter

[Mr. Fusion]

Their idea is that the Kerbal solar system, and it's planets are similar to ours, but everything is scaled down to 1/10 in size (IIRC). This makes things less complicated (faster orbit times, closer moons and planets, etc). However, they didn't scale gravity accordingly, for obvious reasons.

Also, a bigger planet would require more processing power.

[Master]

Master, KSP has realistic orbital physics, which is the backbone of the game, and it is intended to be approachable, if you want a hardcore simulation there is Orbiter

Isn't that what I just said?

[spikeyhat09]

My hypothesis: Kerbin is made of neutronium

[ElJugador]

My hypotheses: It's a game and we shouldn't worry about this whole density business.

[sal_vager]

Harmless speculation is harmless ElJugador

[karolus10]

Kerbin core could be made from Nibbler poo as well

[spikeyhat09]

My hypotheses: It's a game and we shouldn't worry about this whole density business.

Not really "worry" per se, but more of just having fun thinking about it

[TheCardinal]

My hypotheses: It's a game and we shouldn't worry about this whole density business.

I frankly don't understand what is so wrong about that.

[Dizzle]

Stop having fun!

Fixed that for you.

[sal_vager]

Guys, this thread had better not be turning into an "attack ElJugador" thread, he voiced his opinion, now we move on

[NovaSilisko]

My semi-official stance is that this is an alternate universe where the physical laws that govern how things work are very slightly different.

[Vostok]

My semi-official stance is that this is an alternate universe where the physical laws that govern how things work are very slightly different.

This is how I'm mentally approaching the idea of FTL travel in the game. It could techincally be Slower than light travel, the game universe could have a light speed far greater than ours! (in fact, the light speed in game is infinite, since everything is likely rendered as it happens, regardless of distance. This means any speed is slower than light. Light speed is only a barrier in our universe, not this virtual one)

[ScramUK]

Kerbal is to mimic the properties present on earth, the planet itself, however has been made a tenth of the size. So, (un)naturally - the planet would be roughly 10 times as dense.

Edited August 16, 2012 by ScramUK

[silent_prtoagonist]

The Kerbol system was manufactured by an advanced, ancient race of monkeys. Specifically, it was produced by a company specializing in miniature solar systems, marketed as novelty items and sold in gift shops in popular tourist galaxies throughout the universe. The only clues we have about this company are their trademark stamps, which they left on small monoliths all over the system...

[Nikolai]

Kerbal is to mimic the properties present on earth, the planet itself, however has been made a tenth of the size. So, (un)naturally - the planet would be roughly 10 times as dense.

1000 times, actually. Density is inversely proportional to VOLUME, not diameter.

[TheCardinal]

The Kerbol system was manufactured by an advanced, ancient race of monkeys. Specifically, it was produced by a company specializing in miniature solar systems, marketed as novelty items and sold in gift shops in popular tourist galaxies throughout the universe. The only clues we have about this company are their trademark stamps, which they left on small monoliths all over the system...

Designed by Slartibartfast?

[Markus Reese]

the density is the collective mindset of all kerbals. I mean look at the rockets they get into. They gotta be dense. Also, there are the Kerbiliths.

[Cryphonus]

Its a game. I would have preferred they made it more realistic but it was a design decision to make it more gamey and less complicated for new players. At least that was what I remember them saying when it was first released over a year ago.

Actually it is a design choice for the developers and not for new players. New players wouldnt know if Kerbin has a little blackhole at the center or not. It is a coding decision for the developers to make things easier for them.

[AeroPelican]

This is how I'm mentally approaching the idea of FTL travel in the game. It could techincally be Slower than light travel, the game universe could have a light speed far greater than ours! (in fact, the light speed in game is infinite, since everything is likely rendered as it happens, regardless of distance. This means any speed is slower than light. Light speed is only a barrier in our universe, not this virtual one)

Well, when you go fast enough the lag may just stop the terrain generating, thus being faster than light.