Why KSP's planets have the same gravity as ours

[Leafbaron]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

Not so different as they still can into chemistry in usual way.

(Though, maybe that's a reason why KSP engines are so weak and heavy. Chemistry differs a little.

upd.: and fuel is dense. Maybe they need to pour lead powder to make it burn.)

 

The lead powder prevents engine knock

[RentedTritium]

The answer is obviously a Doyleist one. Squad wanted it to "feel" right to the player. Every corner that ksp cuts is cut in the name of making the player experience feel generally authentic while still tapping into the same real world rocket science with similar math. 

It's actually really impressive when you think about it that so much real world content slots right into ksp with only a bit of scaling and it all "feels" right despite how wildly different the system is. 

The Watsonian answer? Obviously there are artificial black holes at the center of every planet. 

Edited December 2, 2016 by RentedTritium

[Leafbaron]

1 hour ago, monstah said:

That's really overthinking, dude. Surface g is linear on both radius and density. Same density, 1/10th radius = 1/10th surface g, given same G. For same surface g, multiply G by 10.

Different fine structure constant, I guess? vOv

I just plugged and chugged some numbers man haha 

[Kerbart]

10 minutes ago, RentedTritium said:

The Watsonian answer? Obviously there are artificial black holes at the center of every planet. 

To which the Holmesian response is “no, you fool. Someone stole our tent!”

[monstah]

5 minutes ago, Leafbaron said:

I just plugged and chugged some numbers man haha 

Yeah, but you just need to plug a single number, and it's a nice and round one  

[Gaarst]

There is no way to empirically determine whether the laws of gravity are different or the planets are extremely dense. Since only on-rails body create gravity, there is no way to separate G and M in an experiment, so no way to calculate one or another, only µ can be calculated.

Except that Squad explicitly stated that G is the same in the Kerbin universe than in ours, so planets are very dense, and debate is over.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Gaarst

[kerbiloid]

22 minutes ago, Gaarst said:

Since only on-rails body create gravity, there is no way to separate G and M in an experiment

By making Gilly change its orbit with known impulse.

Or by measuring optical distortion in Kerbol gravitational lense.
(Adepts of KSPI know that its focal distance is 550 AU, like of the solar one)

21 minutes ago, Gaarst said:

Except that Squad explicitly stated that G is the same in the Kerbin universe than in ours, so planets are very dense, and debate is over.

They want to make us think so.

[NSEP]

It is because of Kerbium a super dense element. Well, thats what Anton Petrov from What da Math says.