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Why not? The most important thing about a round planet in this case (and, in fact, the reason planets tend towards roundness) is that it means gravity is (roug
by masterzora 15y ago
Why not? The most important thing about a round planet in this case (and, in fact, the reason planets tend towards roundness) is that it means gravity is (roughly) equal at every point on the surface (and, in fact, at every point on any planet-shaped shell inside it, as well). On a cube, this is entirely gone. The centers of the faces would have the strongest gravities; the corners would have the weakest. For localised walks we wouldn't notice the gravitational changes (just as we don't notice them when we walk up a staircase), but if you made the trek from the center of a face to the edge, you will definitely notice.
- vynch 15y agothe trek from the centre to the edge or a corner would be rather difficult too....make a mistake and you will fall back to the centre
- davidcollantes 15y agoI took the question (which I thought was rather absurd) and rationalized (and imagined it) this way: this cubic planet will not rotate, or it will not be cubic then. I took out gravity as we know it, and imagined I could just "walk" in it. We walk on a sphere shaped planet, yet we do not "slide down" if we stand on the North Pole, yes? Same with a cubic one, as I imagine, the 90 degrees angle will be crossed without even realizing is there. I imagine we would perceive it as a flat planet. As you can see, I did not take the whole thing too seriously. And that, of course, diminishes karma. So it goes. Cheers!
- zinkem 15y agoThink about the corners like giant mountains on an otherwise sphere shaped planet. If you were at the top of a huge mountain and lost your footing, you would 'slide down.'
- jerf 15y agoYour intuitions are betraying you. Gravity as you know it is a very special case, albeit a common one.
- stcredzero 15y agoIt might not even be that common. AFAIK, the 7 billion sentients that have that experience are all located in the same place.
- patrickyeon 15y agoMost likely you're losing karma because you come across as trolling. In case you're not, picture "down" as towards the center of mass. On the surface of a sphere, that means perpendicular to the surface. At the edge of two faces of a cube, "down" is through the edge (between the faces), with the faces 45 degrees off-vertical. Like on a mountaintop.
- davidcollantes 15y agoI am far from trolling. I don't know how to, on purpose that is. Yes, I can picture it as you describe it.
- camiller 15y ago"I took out gravity as we know it" Well, if you throw out ALL the rules....