Presumably our neural development has been influenced by the planet we evolved on - and we're all used to falling at 9.8 m/s^2 (or catching something falling at that rate).

I know we only have data on people who have spent time in environments with less gravity than the earth - but what would happen to a future intrepid explorer who found herself on a planet with 1.5 g?

If she dropped a delicate instrument, is there any chance she could catch it before it shattered at her feet? If she tripped, could she get her hands up in time to keep from cracking her facemask?

How long would it take to adapt?

Side question: presuming she were fortunate enough have discovered a planet with an atmosphere with a similar mix as our own - how would her lungs handle the higher pressure?

__________________
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
- Goethe

Jump in with both feet!
- Me, indulging my inner eight-year-old

*** *** ***

"Are you a mad-hatter that just types what he wishes, or have you actually any physics training?"
Occam's Ghost to Grant Hutchison.

As we grow up, our bodies adapt to different falling rates protortional to our body height and limb length, so I'd think it would be possible to adjust to changes in gravity as well.

Divers use high pressure air, but they have to adjust the mixture below a certain depth to prevent nitrogen narcosis.

At even higher pressures, oxygen itself becomes dangerous. That's why deep-sea divers use a little oxygen and a lot of helium.

If you reach the pressure level where helium becomes toxic it's time to get out of the water.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

I had not thought of that - although I remember the painfully awkward part of my life when I grew from 5'6" to 6'4" in less than five years.

Despite this, I think there is a difference. Whether I was 5'6 or 6'4 I fell at the same rate - I just had farther to fall. Admittedly, my brain didn't always know where my feet or hands were...

You may be entirely correct - but my concern is whether there is a complicating factor based upon the rate of neuron firing (i.e. a 'hard wired' limitation in the wetware). If not, and the ability to catch yourself before you injure yourself in a fall is merely a subconsciously learned skill, I agree that our intrepid explorer could compensate.





(Just had a weird vision of how to test this: strap a subject into a seat and unexpectedly accelerate him into a brick wall at 14.7 m/s just to see if he can get his hands up in time!

Would that be responsible science?)

__________________
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
- Goethe

Jump in with both feet!
- Me, indulging my inner eight-year-old

*** *** ***

"Are you a mad-hatter that just types what he wishes, or have you actually any physics training?"
Occam's Ghost to Grant Hutchison.

There is surely an upper limit, but most people who aren't fighter pilots are nowhere near it.

Why not just throw a ball at them? It's safer, and less expensive to set up the experiment.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Clearly you are a nice person.

Wonder what it says about me?

__________________
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
- Goethe

Jump in with both feet!
- Me, indulging my inner eight-year-old

*** *** ***

"Are you a mad-hatter that just types what he wishes, or have you actually any physics training?"
Occam's Ghost to Grant Hutchison.

Ethics aside, it's 14.7 m/s per second. Big difference.

On earth, it takes about .45 seconds for something to fall a meter, on that planet it would be .37 seconds. Not much difference, really. I mean, if you're trying to catch it, and you've had a few weeks to adjust.

Movement at 1.5g, or even 2g, isn't nearly as difficult as one might image. Back when I was flying, one of the maneuvers we did was called a "random shallow" approach, which involved a 60 degree bank, which equates to 2g.

I stood up in my crew position, and although we were only in the maneuver for perhaps 10 to 15 seconds, it wasn't difficult to remain standing.

At a sustained 1.5g I've walked the length of the cargo compartment. You have to be careful, but it's entirely doable.

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

I am human. Fully human.