A theory for why Kerbin's gravity is disproportionate

[JMBuilder]

People have noticed that most of the celestial bodies in KSP have disproportionate gravitational pulls for their size. They would have to be super dense for that kind of gravity.

I've come up with a theory to make it seem more realistic: The celestial bodies were originally a system of small neutron stars that pulled in space debris and the like until they fizzled out and were left as chunks of super-compressed rock and radioisotopes. Being highly compressed and made of such dense materials, the new celestial bodies have enormous gravitational pulls.

[Lunniy Korabl]

I think the planets are hollow, with small black holes at the centre, held stable by the forces of "unity". Every now and then, the balance cannot be maintained, and order is restored through a mechanism known only as "the kraken".

[lajoswinkler]

If you keep adding matter to neutron stars, you can only create more massive neutron stars and when the mass reaches Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit, neutrons will give up and a black hole will be created.

The same thing goes for white dwarfs, but their limit is called a Chandrasekhar limit and they collapse into neutron stars.

So your hypothesis, rather than theory, does not hold water...

[JMBuilder]

What could compress materials to that density?

[AlamoVampire]

What could compress materials to that density?

gravity run amok i think

[Guest]

Neutron stars are called Neutron stars due to being made of neutrons stripped of other atomic particles(who would of thought). They are far closer together than normal matter making them denser than any object in the kerbol system. They also don't fizzle considering they don't produce fusion. Things like kerbals and rockets could never leave the ground(let alone maintain their shape) in the vicinity of a neutron star. To put in into perspective a neutron star could fit on top of new york but weighs more than the sun.

Edited October 16, 2013 by Guest

[DevoidLight]

Kerbin's core is super magnetic, and kerbals and their craft are made of magnetic metals.

[kang]

It's all about the density, man...

[Kerbart]

What could compress materials to that density?

The Kraken. Over time you'll learn to respect it.

[lajoswinkler]

Magnetic force doesn't reach far. It drops roughly proportionally to the cube of distance.

KSP is in another universe, with another gravitational constant. That's the best explanation.

What could compress materials to that density?

With enough matter above it, everything can be compressed into a black hole. Black holes are the ultimate goal of gravity.

This part of physics, with the crushing limits, is not very well understood or no evidence exists. Upon reaching TOV limit, neutrons break down in the core into more degenerate matter, so quark stars are born. There might be even more compressed examples, like preon stars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_star

Even if those things are possible, they are unlikely to exist because one thing is to slowly add matter to a star and watch it crush its interior, and violent collapses are another thing. In most cases it just goes into a black hole. The chance the masses would be just right to form something in between are slim.

[Krupski]

If you keep adding matter to neutron stars, you can only create more massive neutron stars and when the mass reaches Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit, neutrons will give up and a black hole will be created.

The same thing goes for white dwarfs, but their limit is called a Chandrasekhar limit and they collapse into neutron stars.

So your hypothesis, rather than theory, does not hold water...

If the escape velocity at the event horizon of a black hole is C, then further in it must be higher than C. Yes?

Or, if NOTHING can be faster than C, and if density goes up to infinity at C, then a black hole must be a zero thickness, infinite density shell surrounding.... what?

It boggles the mind!

[ilikemoneygreen]

This thread is getting fun. Keep it up, and Stephen Hawking is going to make an entrance.

[KasperVld]

Check out the Science Labs for more discussion like this..

[Ralathon]

If the escape velocity at the event horizon of a black hole is C, then further in it must be higher than C. Yes?

In a sense yes. It's a bit more complicated than that since it involves general relativity. Basically, light follows the curvature of space. Space is curved by mass. Within the event horizon space is curved so strongly that any line you follow curves back into the center of the hole. So it is impossible to escape that area of space. You can only get closer and closer to the center from there on out.

Or, if NOTHING can be faster than C, and if density goes up to infinity at C, then a black hole must be a zero thickness, infinite density shell surrounding.... what?

It boggles the mind!

Nah, a black hole is (as far as we know, quantum gravity might say otherwise) a single point of infinite density. If the black hole is spinning it'll be a infinitely thin ring of infinite density. I think you're confused as to what happens when matter falls within an event horizon. At no point does this matter exceed the speed of light, it just spirals towards the center becoming ever more exotic as it gets closer.

[Vector]

While you're at it, see if you can figure out the physics explanation for why in the game of Tetris, blocks fall with constant speed instead of accelerating like they would on Earth.

[DoomtrainInc]

Vector this issue has been addressed a thousand times on the official 'Tetris' forums.

[MeticulousMitch]

While you're at it, see if you can figure out the physics explanation for why in the game of Tetris, blocks fall with constant speed instead of accelerating like they would on Earth.

Theory a: They have already reached their terminal velocity in whatever substance they are falling through.

Theory b: They aren't falling; they're being pushed along a flat surface that you're looking down on.

Theory c: They're not really blocks, they're actually clusters of liquid crystals viewed through a polarizing filter.

[Skumtaske]

Magnetic force doesn't reach far. It drops roughly proportionally to the cube of distance.

The force of gravity drops off at exactly the same rate as magnetic force so that doesn't explain anything.

It could just be that the Gravitational constant is higher in the KSP universe.

[Ralathon]

The force of gravity drops off at exactly the same rate as magnetic force so that doesn't explain anything.

It could just be that the Gravitational constant is higher in the KSP universe.

While magnetic force falls off by the square of distance when you're dealing in monopoles, it falls by the cube of the distance when dealing with dipoles. Since magnetic monopoles don't seem to exist in the real world the force decreases by the cube instead of the square.

[Mr. Scruffy]

The Kerbol system lies within a region of space in which the distribution of dark matter has ended up matching exactly that of normal matter.

[Whirligig Girl]

In my headcanon, Kerbin and all the other planets are properly sized, it's just gameplay reasons why they are not.

[Kialar]

It's because of Goo.

Gravity is modulated by Goo-Density. Goo can be used for science, as it is tied to all basic constants in the kerbalverse.

It is responsible for gravity (Gooity), uncertainty (ungootainty), luminosity (lumigooity), magnetism (goognetism), quantization (gootization) and of course delta-Goo. And all other things. For sure. I swear.

The arrival of Goo in science just explains everything.

[Comrade Jenkens]

As ships can exceed C in KSP i'm pretty sure its in another universe with different laws.

[Technical Ben]

Degenerate matter? Could that explain it?

[Felsmak]

Or maybe it was just programmed that way?