How would life on earth be different if the force of gravity (g) was halved?

Answer 1

I think there would be taller mountains on earth. I think that creatures would be less muscular because they wouldn't have to support their weight as much. I think that bones would be less dense because creatures wouldn't need their bones to be as sturdy to support them. I think that the cardio-vascular systems would be more long-lasting because they wouldn't have to pump blood through as much gravity.

I think you would probably have taller creatures overall.

Answer 2

The first answer was a good answer. One other thing that would concern me about less gravity is the possible lack of an atmosphere. Less gravity means the Earth would not be able to hold on to its atmosphere as long as it is doing now. Think of Mars. Mars is a smaller planet, and it doesn't have much of an atmosphere now, though once upon a time it most certainly did. Given enough time, Earth will lose its atmosphere as well.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Neat question....
I think, assuming that if on this lower gravity planet life developed in the exact way it did here on Earth (which is a big if), humans would have a more slender skeletal system with weaker muscles. We may be taller because we would have less gravitational restraints. We wouldn't have to work so hard against gravity, so maybe we could handle the increased leverage of being taller.
Plant life does respond to gravity so less gravity would affect things like maybe the spread of a tree.... but maybe the wood wouldn't be as strong because it wouldn't have as much gravity to work against....
I'm really looking forward to reading others' answers to this one!

Answer 4

The first thing that comes to mind is that the atmosphere would be less dense. Since we reside so close to the sun, protection from radiation would be sorely diminished. Also, the atmosphere would eventually "evaporate" into space by the continuous bombardment of the solar winds (highly energetic particles) lacking a strong enough pull of gravity to hold them. This in turn would lead to the real evaporation of water. The process would be slow, but steady, taking millions of years.

Answer 5

It would not exists.

You cannot change the fundamental constants of the universe by more than a few parts per million and have the universe still support life.

Why this should be so is a mystery.

See anthropic principle.