Low-gravity birthplace: Effects on Earth?

So, one of the characters I'm working on is (supposedly) a creature from Barsoom accidentally teleported to Earth. 9 feet tall, green skin, four arms, sword and energy rifle, etc.

I know that (according to several sci-fi ideas) if a being is raised in a high-grav environment, they'll be stronger and tougher on a world with less gravity. But I've been trying to look up what sort of effects the opposite route would take (i.e., growing up in a low-G world, and being "relocated"). Any ideas what sort of special abilities he might develop?

For starters, they'd be taller and willowy, and possibly more prone to suffering musculoskeletal problems such as arthritis or osteoporosis. Real-life astronauts find themselves growing a few inches taller in zero gravity because there's no atmospheric pressure pressing their bones and vertebral columns down.

We actually have a page on this subject, too.

edited 17th Apr '12 6:17:16 AM by CrystalGlacia

The first question would be: Can it survive?

Something 9 feet tall that is roughly analogous to a human would probably be in for a world of hurt.

As humans can (for a very limited time) theoretically survive brief exposure to 7 Gs, and can operate (if an elite fighter pilot) at 5 Gs, this creature trying to operate on Earth will likely experience all the problems all the time.

As for powers, none. Unless you consider the "somehow not dying" in a high G environment (for it) a power.

edited 17th Apr '12 6:19:58 AM by Natasel

It's Handwaved that the character wears an item (a wristband or whatever) that allows him to stay alive on Earth. Similar to how occasionally, Aquaman's costume is described as a "Hydro Suit".

@2 Presumably, you mean no gravity. No atmospheric pressure would be bad.

Also, it might be a good idea to look up the various causes and effects of clinical muscle weakness, which is effectively what happens to someone coming to Earth from Mars. Osteoporosis might come into play as well, unless for some reason the Martian's bones are a lot stronger than they need to be for Mars' gravity.

Also, look up Robert Wadlow. He was only 8ft, but died essentially because the Square-Cube Law caught up with him.

edited 17th Apr '12 6:42:29 AM by Yej

Well, considering the character does not die immediately, which is probably what would happen if this actually happened, yeah, this person would be in a world of hurt. They might be taller, but also have less muscle mass than a human, and the longterm effect of Earth on their bodies might be very painful.

So, in short, other than telepathy, and being a self-taught warrior, he wouldn't get any "bonuses", just be a Badass Normal? (Well, if being 9 feet tall and having additional limbs is Badass Normal by his culture's standards).

He can telepathically cry out in pain as his self taught warrior, 9 FEET TALL body is crushed under Earth gravity?

Ok, assuming he had some Bio Agumentation work done or a Hand Wave as having tech so advanced, it can counter Gravity....

1) He'd have to have a stronger structure at the very least, perhaps trained, perhaps bred into him or genetic manipulation. If a warrior or soldier, being sturdier would be an advantage.

Next would be to somehow improve its interal organs to the point where it is not in danger of failing under the stress.

Solve those problems and the telepathy (which I don't see as being dependant on gravity) would be good enough.

The only way being a Light Worlder helps him would a familiarity IN a Light World environment.

2) Dude, he's got tech that counters Gravity. That tech alone means he's gotten ahold of things so advanced, we're primitive savages by comparison. He probably has an "I WIN!" button.

edited 17th Apr '12 7:33:38 AM by Natasel

Being 9 feet tall and coming to Earth where people don't tend to get over 7 feet tall is going to be a difficult adjustment.

I remember I was writing a moonman coming to Earth. Despite being genetically engineered to not immediately die and restructure himself to be able to survive on Earth, he was still a little over 7 feet tall. I asked some really tall people what their life was like.

A guy 7 feet tall would have trouble sitting in the back seat of cars and be uncomfortable in a lot of smaller cars' front seats. He might have to duck to get through doors, or his head would be skimming the top of doorways. To use counters, he'd have to bend down — doing it for a long enough time would hurt his back. Clothes and shoes would not be made for his size. Shoes might have to be specially ordered. To him, Earth was made for midgets, and it was very uncomfortable.

I can only imagine life for a 9-foot-tall person would be a thousand times worse.

edited 17th Apr '12 7:44:44 AM by ohsointocats

A guy from a lower gravity world than Earth would be comparatively weaker at Earth-standard gravity, at least for awhile. He may also actually lose height as his spine compresses (not quickly, mind, and probably not dangerously).

NASA research on the subject suggests that you can adapt to higher gravities with time, however. Even just regular everyday activities will result in effective adaption in a few months.

edited 17th Apr '12 9:40:23 AM by Night

Yes but we're not talking about someone who was originally born on Earth, went out a couple years in space and then came back. We're talking about someone who has presumably evolved to live on a world with less gravity — I guess how much less gravity is going to be an issue. Moon has 1/6th of Earth's gravity, so someone born on the moon might have issues (see Planetes). Gravity of Mars is about 38% of Earth's. The more similar it is to Earth the easier it will be to adjust — however we won't know until people are born on space colonies and try to come back to Earth because Earth is the highest gravity planet right now that's possibly inhabitable.

edited 17th Apr '12 10:25:37 AM by ohsointocats

Thanks for all of the suggestions, folks. I guess I shoulda mentioned that at the time the story takes place, "Jeddak" (just a placeholder name for now) has been on Earth for about 10-15 years.

Other than the telepathy, I think it'd be best if I portrayed him as a low-level Glass Cannon (low-level as in Captain America/Hank McCoy version 1.0 strength-class; being taller and additional muscle will do that). Other than the telepathy and prolonged lifespan, I'll probably focus more on his blade & combat skills (sort of a green-skinned multi-limbed version of Kratos, if you will).

So pretty much moving from a low gravity planet to a high gravity planet will have zero effect on him.

As long as he has his "adaptor" device (which is NOT Barsoomian technology; it was created on Earth), I guess so.

It's actually not about human experiments that I'm referring to; NASA put a chicken coop in a centrifuge to simulate 2G or 4G gravity, I forget which, and kept them there for three months. They adapted to it reasonably well by the end.

I'm just thinking of people who have actually been in space. After a year or so in space, you end up with a few days of dizziness with your circulatory system trying to deal with the new gravity and the loss of bone density from being in space can be difficult to recover. I can only imagine that these issues would be exacerbated from someone who had lived all of their lives in a low gravity environment.

edited 17th Apr '12 2:57:29 PM by ohsointocats