Questions tagged [earth-like]
For questions regarding planets similar to Earth in most respects. This tag should be used when describing a planet that follows the rules of Earth with exceptions outlined in the question. Usually questions using this tag will be about the differences and the impacts of those differences.
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Long distance travel by non-motorised rolling vehicles
Background
I have lush fertile mountains separated by miles of flat, barren desert. Each mountain is home to a community. The distances between mountains vary from 2 - 20 miles.
Every occupied ...
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Can someone tell me what a world with a radius 1.2 times that of earth’s would be like? [closed]
I want to make a world larger than earth for a story I want to write. Please can someone tell me about the different characteristics a world with a 20% larger radius would have:
How much gravity it ...
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How to safely contain dinosaurs in the early 1900s?
A nation has found a large island containing dinosaurs! Primarily those of the late Cretaceous.
A nation willing to pour pretty much any amount of money into the project needs a way to safely contain ...
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How long would it take to recreate the biosphere on a “dead Earth” planet?
So, one of my main settings involves humanity colonizing an Earth-like planet. The planet has all the abiotic features needed to support mankind (oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, magnetic field, 70% ...
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On an Earth-like planet, what geologic features would contain which important minerals (such as gold, iron, copper)? [closed]
I'm writing a book that's set on a planet very similar to earth, meaning it has all the same gravity, mineral compositions, and geologic features. With that in mind:
What geological features are the ...
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In a world where gravity pass from 1 G to 5 G in a cycle of 365 days, can planes fly all the time?
I am writing a book and I have this cenario. There is a planet where gravity pass from 1 G to 5 G in a cycle of 365 days. I know that humans can survive till 3-5G, but what about airplanes capability ...
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What sort of evolutionary possibilities are plausible for a human-like species orbiting a red dwarf star?
I'm working on a story which is sci-fi so soft you could spread it on a cracker, but I'd like something semi plausible. I'm very likely overthinking things to an extreme, but I'd like someone with ...
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Should my superhabitable planet have ice caps?
I'm designing an Earth-like planet and I'm concerned about whether or not it would have ice caps. Originally, I assumed it would be too warm, with a climate similar to Earth's during the Paleocene-...
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How eccentric can a planet’s orbit be before it is uninhabitable?
So, I am writing a list of criteria for wannabe terraformers so that they know at what point any of their pet projects can be considered truly habitable. This list covers everything from the necessary ...
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What metal or mineral commonly found on Earth could be extremely rare on a different Earth-like planet?
I am writing a story where a secret organization in the present day controls a portal between Earth and a different Earth-like planet. The organization secretly ships resources between planets to make ...
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Seasons increasing and decreasing in length in a predictable cycle?
Could an Earth-like planet have a cycle of seasons changing length without changing the length of the year? Having long summers and short winters at the start of the cycle and shifting towards long ...
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Under what conditions would a society be able to remain undetected in our current world?
So hypothetically, what would be the best "hiding" locations for societies/organizations that seek to avoid contact with the rest of humanity? In other words, where would be the best place (...
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What planetary orbit and geology would speed up an ice age?
I have a first-contact scenario where I would like an ice age to be occurring rapidly. All the things that could change to make a fast ice age more credible: orbital period (403.42 local days), length ...
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Which map-making software is best suited for my interests?
I'm interested in creating a map for a world I've been creating. I've done some research to determine which software would suit me best, and it came down to Inkarnate, Campaign Cartographer, and ...
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Retrofitting geocentrism - what replaces the star?
The goal is to devise a plausible geocentric system in appearance. However, for simplicity, we will need only to examine the one planet case. And more crucially, this one Earth-like body is to be the ...
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What would people living on rocky terrain with access to a river use as building materials?
I'm looking for architectural inspiration for a city I'm designing, and I wonder what kind of building material would be used by the inhabitants.
They live at the foot of a mountain, relatively close ...
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How would an alien race destroy all nuclear weapons on earth? [closed]
An alien race has decided that earth is the best place to recruit new soldiers and prepare for a war, and they want to eliminate all nuclear weapons (explosive ones, not dirty bombs) to prevent ...
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What would the climate of this map look like? [closed]
In this scenario, there is a binary star system comprised of one naturally-made star and another made by the hands of some mysterious hyperadvanced civilization. The latter is a white giant, an ...
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Could a binary star system support life?
If we take an earth-sized planet with similar atmosphere, and put it into a P-type binary orbit, could it sustain human life? For sake of clarity, assume both stars are G-type stars and the planet is ...
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Detecting offworlders with cameras
There is an Earthlike planet inhabited by Earthlike lifeforms including beings that are human for all practical purposes. The primary visible human civilisation is roughly equivalent in technology to ...
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How would the synodic period of Venus change if both Venus and Earth were moved equal distances away from the Sun? [closed]
Let us say that Earth and Venus are both moved 10 million additional miles from the sun. How would the synodic period of Venus appear to change for an observer on Earth? If 584 days is Venus' current ...
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Given that an ocean did not touch the ground, how would the way waves function change? [closed]
The Premise
An earth-like world (gravity, 1 moon, distance from star)
Oceans do not touch the ground (ignoring the how for this premise, but for consistency we'll say it's floating atop 1 km of air)
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Environmental effects of a supervolcano eruption
Background:
In this world, a massive volcanic eruption results in ash being spewed into the stratosphere of an earthlike planet, blocking out sunlight. The explosion is on a similar scale as the Toba ...
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I have scrambled the earth’s landmasses to form the world of Htrea [closed]
There are still mountains in the same spots of their mother continents. Wind directions, orbit, and water temperatures are all exactly that of Earth’s (as well as planet size). The equator runs ...
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How can I make an earthlike planet windier?
Imagine a planet like earth, but windier. Not pick-up-a-house-and-drop-it-on-a-witch windy; let's say just give-trees-a-hard-time windy.
I'd like "high winds" (defined by the United States ...
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What the minimum diameter/circumference a ringworld would have to have cycles of day and night and gravity Earth-like?
I wanted to know what the minimum diameter/circumference a ringworld would have to have cycles of day and night (24 hours complete) and gravity equal to Earth and what the speed of rotation.
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How do I determine the locations and strength of earthquakes using a fictional tectonic plate arrangement?
I've got a world that I made using a combination of star system and plate tectonics simulations via a variety of programs. I've used this to build plenty of overlays for my world map—plate boundaries, ...
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I'm not a biologist or an engineer. How do I design legs for a large animal that leaps very long distances?
For designing fictional animals, I'm trying to design one with four appendages that is meant to jump large distances vertically and length-wise and is as large or larger than a human, with hands or ...
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I’m making this story that has a blown up planet, and I’m trying to have some animals and creatures that live here that have changed or been modified [closed]
So In this story the main planet has been blown up way before the point of the story taking place, and well I have most of the architecture down I’m stuck on coming up with creatures to inhabit it and ...
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Would tall arboreal humanoids make good swimmers?
These are tall, sapient great apes that primarily live in trees, but come down for occasional food or things that catch their interest on the ground. By tall, I mean 6-7 feet on average, but because ...
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Could giants fit into a forest?
In my fantasy world, the forests are massive, reaching for miles and miles over the country, full of amazing creatures and just wonderful things. The thing is, I want my world to be relatively young, ...
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How do I determine when a planet is visible?
Recently, I was working on the various astronomies and astrologies of my fantasy world, when I had an interesting thought: “What if there was a planet that was so faint, people would be arguing if it ...
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What preparations are needed for putting a scientific explorer base on another planet?
In my book, a group of scientific explorers want to put a base on the planet so what would I need to make that possible? The planet is a super-Earth but has lower gravity than Earth. The ship they use ...
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Is my large tropical continent too dry or not dry enough?
I'm looking for a realism check on the climates of a Eurasia-like continent situated mostly in the tropics. I want to maximize tropical rainforests, savannahs, and hot semi-arid climates.
Here is my ...
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How would iron and alkaline-rich soil affect plant life?
In one of the solar systems I've created for my fictional universe, there is a small planet within the habitable zone between the size of Mercury and Venus. It's an incredibly rocky planet, with high ...
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Can an Earthlike planet orbiting a K-type star have longer days and extreme thunderstorms?
The planet orbits a K-type star. Basically same gravity as Earth's, with similar atmosphere. I'd like it to have a 30-hour day, plus in my characters' region, occasional very bad thunderstorms. Think ...
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Microclimates of Peaks of Eternal Light on a Earth Like Planet
Peaks of Eternal Light are hypothetical mountain peaks that exist on the poles of worlds with little to no axial tilt. My question is simply, if such a peak did exist on an earth-like planet, one with ...
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How far away from earth could atomic weapon detonations be detected?
Let us suppose that ten high kiloton to low megaton range fission/fusion weapons are being detonated between three and five kilometers under the surface of the sea on a planet much like earth, in a ...
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Why would my sect permanently change the color of my hair and irises?
I live in a pre-industrial world, very similar to earth, but with very limited access to magic (no flight, only healing very minor injuries, making flowers grow faster, lighting a candle, etc.).
I ...
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Are my "ZW humans" plausible?
I'm worldbuilding a human inspired species where females are larger than males. According to the explanations I've read about why that would happen with birds of prey, dimorphism comes from:
Avoiding ...
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How fast would 2ft tall people process alcohol?
I have a world both of normal humans and a fantasy race that are basically 2ft tall, with large heads and torsos and stubby legs if that's important. They typically weigh about the same as a housecat.
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What would Inversia's climate map look like?
Inversia is a world conjured up by Chris Wayan that expands on the old "inverted Earth" trope.
The instructions he made were as followed in this link:
Mark the sea level carefully.
Remove ...
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What would the climate of a Pangaea-Ultima-inspired world be like?
In a sci-fi scenario, human explorers have discovered a binary of G0 stars, each one 105% as wide, 110% as massive and 126% as bright as our sun. Orbiting this binary within its habitable zone is an ...
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Seasonal Weather in a Forest with Polar Night
I'm investigating the feasibility of a world where there are taiga forests located far enough north to experience a significant polar night, say, no civil twilight for at least a few months. Inside ...
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What is the maximum percentage of sky that could be covered by a super-Jovian world?
Puffy Jupiters can be huge but the Kepler data suggests that traditional super-Jovian worlds nearer the goldilocks zone, or farther from their parent star, only reach about 10% larger in diameter than ...
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Could the differences between day and night on this desert planet allow for strictly nocturnal condensation?
Here's the basic gist of this (debatably) habitable Earth-like desert planet:
Size: Same as Earth
Rotation: 30 hours (three extra hours of daylight followed by three extra hours of night)
Revolution:...
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What is the habitability of an Earth- like habitable planet that do not have any cloud covering?
Let's say I imagined a world that is as habitable as Earth and has the same oxygen levels, land to ocean ratio and similar average temperature. However it has no clouds at all. How different its ...
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How many co-orbital Earths can we fit and NOT get them tidally locked?
According to Sean Raymond, a co-orbit of six Earth-sized planets, separated by 60 degrees of space, will stay stable for millions of years.
And in his latest blog, he has gone a bit further and ...
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What Could Create the Remaining Two Types of Single-Biome Planets?
There have been numerous questions in this SE about single-biome planets popularized in the Star Wars mythos. Despite the criticisms, these worlds are plausible, and they all involve the right ...
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Convection Cells in the Atmosphere of a Jupiter-Sized Planet
Background
The setting for a story I am creating is an earth-like planet near jovian surface area, existing in a universe where the force of gravity is appreciably weaker than in our own, such that a ...
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