Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Physiology and Philosophy Underlying Earth's Stronger Gravitational Pull Than Mar's Pull

A few days ago, I realized, while watching an episode of Aldnoah.Zero, that particular aspects of the society I live in may make my condition more difficult to cope with - a disguised Princess Asseylum (left) says that the Vers Princess (herself, in other words) felt sick due to Earth's strong gravity. Being from Mars, she is more acclimated to its weaker gravity - Earth has a gravitational acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 while Mars only has an acceleration of 3.75 m/s^2, resulting in a much weaker gravitational force. Thus less weight. I never thought about how Earth's strong pull may result in sickness or restrict motion but in my experience such an outcome is obvious. Many people feel very downwardly compelled. My ability to walk would likely be much closer to "normal" if presented with less gravity to impede my motion. Walking requires a lot of energy for me due to joint contractures and my muscles having to resist the pull of gravity. Many times when I feel so weak that I would like to stop walking, I am convinced that I must sink my legs onto the ground and simply give into Earth's strong gravitational pull. Perambulating in my experience leads to this perception of gravity becoming steadily stronger, despite remaining constant in strength. But what would happen if I was on Mars? For one, my muscles would likely become weaker due to lessened exertion required, though my bones would likely stagnate in amount of inertia. (Bones become tougher due to muscles pulling on them to create motion.) Perhaps the tradeoff in motion would not make for much of an improvement. I would be rid of that nagging sensation that I am trying too hard to fight both gravity and my slightly limited range of motion for my hip, knees, and ankles. That persistent physiological suggestion that my knees should buckle and I should collapse downwards. In that sense, every time I walk would be much easier, which would surely provide some amount of relief.  I don't think I'll get to operate in a weaker- or zero-gravity environment, but I found this topic interesting.


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