3 ms·

While technically present at all scales, gravity is so weak that you can ignore it until you get to pretty large scales. Meters or so. An ant barely feels gravi

While technically present at all scales, gravity is so weak that you can ignore it until you get to pretty large scales. Meters or so. An ant barely feels gravity, a bacterium or a single cell don't even know it is there.

pharrington 7y ago
If you wanna go down that rabbit hole... one must be as precise as possible when estimating.
soulofmischief 7y ago
What does it mean to "feel" gravity? I assure you the ant's biological systems would undergo many changes over generations in the absence of gravity in order to reach homeostasis. A bacterium can't feel anything but did I mention single-celled organisms? No, I mentioned organelles. You are arguing against a straw-man. Furthermore you are completely ignoring the effect of gravitational perturbations on emergent structures. These things don't necessarily "iron out", and if they do, we have not yet ascertained at what level and via what mechanism. You are confusing an object's ability to produce gravity with its propensity for interacting with gravity.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  > A bacterium can't feel anything but did I mention single-celled organisms? No, I mentioned organelles. Given that mitochondria are almost certainly descended from captured bacteria, that's an odd quibble.
  - soulofmischief 7y ago
    You're right; I'm just trying to not stray so far from the intending meaning of my post. However, our organelles are indirectly influenced by gravity as a result of cascading interactions with other macro systems. I'm just sure someone could make the argument that one bacteria out there was shown to function identically without gravity, thus dismantling an argument I was never trying to make. Organelles are different because they interact with a larger cell structure, which interacts with a larger tissue structure, the latter two both having experimentally proven dependencies on gravity for optimal performance in their current structure. Yes, a lot of our cells would work more or less the same in zero grav-- but would they have ever formed that way in the first place? Your guess is as good as mine.

pharrington 7y ago

If you wanna go down that rabbit hole... one must be as precise as possible when estimating.

soulofmischief 7y ago

What does it mean to "feel" gravity? I assure you the ant's biological systems would undergo many changes over generations in the absence of gravity in order to reach homeostasis. A bacterium can't feel anything but did I mention single-celled organisms? No, I mentioned organelles. You are arguing against a straw-man. Furthermore you are completely ignoring the effect of gravitational perturbations on emergent structures. These things don't necessarily "iron out", and if they do, we have not yet ascertained at what level and via what mechanism. You are confusing an object's ability to produce gravity with its propensity for interacting with gravity.

ceejayoz 7y ago
> A bacterium can't feel anything but did I mention single-celled organisms? No, I mentioned organelles. Given that mitochondria are almost certainly descended from captured bacteria, that's an odd quibble.
- soulofmischief 7y ago
  You're right; I'm just trying to not stray so far from the intending meaning of my post. However, our organelles are indirectly influenced by gravity as a result of cascading interactions with other macro systems. I'm just sure someone could make the argument that one bacteria out there was shown to function identically without gravity, thus dismantling an argument I was never trying to make. Organelles are different because they interact with a larger cell structure, which interacts with a larger tissue structure, the latter two both having experimentally proven dependencies on gravity for optimal performance in their current structure. Yes, a lot of our cells would work more or less the same in zero grav-- but would they have ever formed that way in the first place? Your guess is as good as mine.