If Earth Were Half its Size
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- My twitter: / dreksler_astral
NOTE: When saying "size", it includes 1/4th the mass as well, meaning gravity would be cut in half.
Earth is actually quite a big place, it is the largest solid planet in the solar system. But what if that were to change and earth in a matter of seconds shrunk in size by half? Watch the video to find out.
Music: Kevin MacLeod - Lost Frontier
if earth were half it's size my amazon packages would arrive faster
lol
🤣
Skinny Bob 😭
Twice th3 sp33d
i mean if you update eartt from 2019.14.07 to 2020.13.03
what if saturn became a moon of jupiter?
It can’t it’s to big for a moon
Worst Comment
create a center of mass and orbit it
Maybe uranus or neptune?
It would create a center of mass, and with the moons in place, their orbits would most likely be either knocked out, or having to orbit the 2 gas giants, plus Saturn's rings depending on the distance from Jupiter either may still be intact, or broken apart from its orbit...
Worst Comment That’s what I was thinking!
If earth was half its size....
North Koreas missiles might actually reach the U.S. Lmao 😂
😏😏😏😏
@@kimjong-un5214 lmfaooooo
NK is closer to the US than you think, Earth's not flat lmao.
@@kimjong-un5214 Want to enjoy some margaritas with me?
@@centauria9122 maybe
half size = not enough space
There would still be plenty of space, however, we would have to make a bit better use of the space.
Geeee.....we would have evolved different....from body density....to habits....
You can practice living on low gravity by living on Earth's moon and also on living on Mars.
A bachelors degree and being a pilot prevents most people lol
Zooplankton plays a huge role in the Oxygen that is displaced in our Atmosphere (Approx. 40%), this means that we would probably not experience Oxygen loss in such a disastrous way you have displayed in your video, but in a more acute manner.
if the earth's diameter shrank by half the mass would be 8 times less.
Your point?
@Pneumonocolvocanomicroscopicsilicolvocano-coniosis About 0.25 G ???
@Max Persson - that is wrong. It would be about 7 times less which is about 1/8th of the original mass.
What does it mean to strink anythings DIAMETER by HALF THE MASS ?
No wrong spelling it is'nt Earth it's Eart
Smaller:
Taller
Easy to walk
Big trees
Cons:
Too small for oxygen
Larger:
Lots of space
Cons:
Can't walk
Bad bones
Yeah, medium is best.
Honestly, man your content is amazing. Ive been watching your videos for a while now and I cant believe that you only have 1,600 subscribers. It looks like you actually put effort into making your videos just for the passion of it. All I can say is keep doing what you are doing man
Thank you, it really means a lot!
Amen to that.
Dreksler I was watching this video without seeing your subscriber count. I just assumed you had around 200k. Your content is amazing
200 off 10k!
Wulfi Fox Hey, cool name 😀
One thing you fail to take into account is that in this smaller Earth all the fauna and flora will have had to evolve in a pattern corresponding to the circumstances presented before it. Thus trees, whales, humans, et cetera will more than likely reach a size that befits the ecological niche that nature has provided, as a result, a smaller Earth would translate into smaller trees, whales, and humans because that would be the ideal size to accommodate within the lesser resources of a smaller Earth.
There is one area where a difference can be seem between Earth and a postulated smaller Earth. Given that the gravitational attraction is less that would mean a smaller Earth would have a thinner atmosphere and not just in proportion to a fifty percent reduction but substantially less. That has tremendous ramifications with regards to whether a smaller Earth could sustain oceans of water on its surface. Since we know that water is critical to animate objects it is a question whether a fifty percent smaller Earth could be able to support higher life forms such as vertebrates and arthropods.
The density issues with respect to vertebrate bones would likely be the same regarding plant fibers including the wood in trees.
Another serious complication that reduced gravity would present for such an Earth would be reduced surface air pressure which would adversely affect the freezing and boiling points of water meaning that ground water might sublimate directly into the atmosphere leaving surface plants to potentially go thirsty.
You honestly deserve a million subs!
Thanks, means a lot!
Αλφρέδος Μποζίκης olympiakos
kalhspera mages
When you say 'Half its size', you have to define what that means (mass, diameter, circumference, etc..). 0.5x the diameter reduces the mass more than twice, so the gravitational pull would not just be 50%. Also, the fact that we're closer to all that mass influences that number.
If the diameter shrunk by a half, according to the volume of a sphere formula, the volume would shrink by over twice as much. Since volume is proportional to mass (assuming same density), if the radius shrunk by half, there would be OVER 2x LESS mass, and over two times less mass actually means gravity would be over 2x weaker
With this great content, and your subscription rate, you will likely have 10,000 subscribers by 2018 and 100,000 by 2019.
Excellent videos!
Hopefully and thank you!
26K by now and it's still July! It's always a pleasant surprise whenever something that's actually _quality_ gets noticed. :)
Der Tery
33k now. I bet he will reach 100k by 2018
Der Tery Boi it's 2017 and he has 35k tf u mean he's gonna have like 1 million by 2019
37k xD
Today I found your channel and today I watched most of your videos! keep up the good work your channel is one of the best so far !
Wow, your videos are incredible! You look like you have put so much effor into this video and all of your others and congratulations because they are amazing!! You need more subscribers!
Thank you very much!
Dude your subscribers ratio just exploded. Congrats because this is such a great educational content. Keep delivering science!
Another outstanding TH-cam presentation by Dreksler. Please keep these coming!
Well I mean, are we talking about halving its size without removing any mass? Because then the gravity wouldn't decrease, but would in fact increase due to the laws of gravity.
If the earth was any bigger or smaller, we would have evolved to survive it..!
yeah but if we evolved in a slight different way, we would not be the same species as we are now, maybe we wouldnt exist at all
Lunar _ViiRus
After like a million years yeah
Lunar _ViiRus smaller we would all be hobbits or dwarves..maybe gollums..bigger, then giants did exist.
evolution isn't about changing, it's just about what survives and the next generation is more diverse due to natural variation so some are more likely to survive and some are less.
Though, if Earth was half its current size, it's magnetic dynamo could have stopped several hundred million years ago, leaving the sun to strip away most of the planet's atmosphere, like what happened with Mars.
Awesome Video man! Would like to add one thing that since earth is half the size the core will cool down much faster and we will likely lose our geomagnetic field. Adding the risk of more radiation
That's what likely happened with Mars.
Jupiter: Your smaller than mars earth
Earth: *Pulls out Antimatter Bomb*
LOL
You deserve more subs. i love your stuff man.
If earths diameter is halved, it's volume is only going to be 1/4th en thus gravity(determined by how much mass is present) is going to 1/4th as well. If the diameter doubles, gravity is going to be 4 times as strong. Simple consequence of the square-cube law
Gravity is inversely affected by the square of radius however. Since the radius is halved, that one eight gravity is quadrupled, to an overall half gravity.
If you double the earths radius, it's gravity will only double for the same reason. It's mass is eight times greater, but the double radius quarters gravity.
Mars in fact has about half the radius of the earth and a lower density (3.93 vs 5.51), yet it's gravity is much more than one quarter. If you take the ratio of densities:
5.51/3.93= 1.4
Then multiply it's surface gravity of 0.38G * 1.4, you get 0.53G, which is pretty close to a half.
And with 0.53G and colder atmosphere temps Mars can only hold on to a 1 PSI atmosphere, so Earth would be doomed.
TIMEtoRIDE900
It's not that simple. Titan has 0.13G and has 1.5 times the atmospheric pressure. Venus is 0.88G and has 96 times earth's atmospheric pressure.
It's entirely possible that a differently sized earth could still maintain a survivible atmosphere.
Next Video: What if Earth has no moon ?
No moon = no life on earth,if there was no moon the earth would spin on it's axis in all directions, the moon keeps it stable.
Darsh D or What if earth had two moons?
Franz Fries no i have heard of it i just wanna hear Dreksler's opinion.
Darsh D
No Moon=Uninhabitable Planet
Quick anwer: ded
0:43, you are saying that g would be 4.9 m s^-2. This depends on a handful of factors. Gravity depends on mass and inversely proportional to the square of its radius. If the mass were the same, then the gravity would be 1/4 currently. If its mass goes down by a factor of two then g would be m s^-2. It's impossible to write a vector on a youtube comment
This channel is going to explode in popularity.
hmm it's doing fine
And I meant it's going to do even more fine in the near future.
Yea i got it, thank you for believing in me tho.
Nice video. Just came up in my recommendations!
Alfie Moon - Ah nice, I been subbed for a while, decent videos this guy pumps out :)
Thank you people!
Alfie Moon sammme
Alfie Moon same
same
cutting the diameter in half doesn't mean you get half the size of earth 1/8th because the volume of an object is directly proportional to the cube of its diameter.
If Earth was half smaller life would still be certain and will evolve differently. And if intelligent life like humans managed to evolve then good for them specially when space exploration is just by their side.
And somehow airlines would find a way to charge us even more even though the distance to everywhere was cut in half.
your content is amazing. Nice research done. Appreciate the effort and thank you
And thank you as well!
What if Earth was half the size from the beginning, ie. not shrunk suddenly? How would have all the living organisms evolved? I know our bones would be less dense, we'd be half as tall but could still slam dunk a basketball.
Thank you, Dreksler, for always delivering top-notch material.
"Atmosphere would go away"
Wrong. Mars supposed problem is a lack of magnetic field that allows solar wind to erode the atmosphere. Assuming the atmosphere does not lose mass as well, a smaller surface means thicker atmosphere, circa 8 times.
The loss of the martian magnetic field was likely due to a combination of the planet's much smaller size and a likely head on collision with an object as big as Pluto.
@@geekinutopia5899 It is actually seen Mars has a liquid inner and outer core now. That means no dynamo effect=no magnetic field. This may have been caused by a giant Pluto sized object hitting it but scientists know Mars has a liquid core now.
tbh, u deserve more subscribers
_If Earth were half its size_
Liked for your correct application of the subjunctive _were,_ a feat which seems to be beyond the ability of most uploaders to TH-cam.
And english isn't even his first language, so double kudos to him.
We'd be half our weight?! Where is this Earth 2 utopia? I'm moving there now.
Great content, Dreksler. :o) You came up in my recommendations and I've subbed.
A fun speculation. Thank you for posting. We should also keep in mind the effect of Earth's magnetic field. Unlike Mars, Earth's strong magnetic field, if it stayed the same as the full-sized Earth, would protect the planet over a longer time from loosing it's atmosphere to the solar wind.
And thank you for watching!
I really like your content. Subscribed!! keep up the awesome work!!!
If the earth shrank yes it would end life on earth. However if say the earth was originally half it's size I don't think the effects would be as devastating. I mean we only think earth is the ideal planet because that's where we adapted. We are used to the earth's gravity, we are used to the atmosphere. It is my belief that if the earth was half the size life on earth would be adapted to live on the earth and it would be business as usual.
I think that's a bit of a stretch. I mean sure if it just shrank rn it would cause a mass extinction for sure-possibly even worse than the Permian one. But some life would likely survive. We are at least close enough to the sun to where water wouldn't completely freeze over and far enough away so it wouldn't evaporate-assuming we kept our atmosphere.
The first video I saw from u Dreksler was the Sun dying video which was very interesting. Been subscribed ever since.
if the earth was half it's size....plane tickets would be half price...
Great content and one of the best yt channels! You deserve 14 billion subscribers!
i hope your channel grow bigger...its epic
Thanks!
Since there are no planet fairies that go about waving their magic wands to decrease or increase mass, your question would be better framed as: "What if Earth had developed such that it had only half the current diameter", and proceed from there.
"If de eart shink by ha..." -- man, is your lower jaw broken?
Семён Семёныч he has an accent.
better than any other channel who talk a lot about other but not the video a lot.
1:33
Now I really want the Earth to half its size.
Videos like this is very useful when it come to modules and stuff
When decreasing the size by a factor of 2, the mass would be 1/8 of its former mass, right (assuming density stays the same), since the volume of a sphere depends on r^3 (1/2^3 = 1/8). So 1/8 the volume with same density makes 1/8 of the mass. Please correct me if I am wrong :)
Magnetic field would probably suffer to, potential shower of radiation from the sun. The weakening of the bones wouldn't be a problem with less gravity. Though some may carry weights round with them. Thinner atmosphere may disrupt air travel and air speed depending on engine type.
I never thought about the idea of earth being half it's sized great vid as usual
Thanks!
Damn, was the audio recorded on some earbuds?
God that was awful..
I have been trying to loose weight for a long time now and failing.........now I hope that earth would be half of it's size, so that I can finally lose weight.
i bet aliens in far away solar system have made a video about " how does standing on the earth's surface feel like "
Glad I stumbled on this, a few new things rattling around in my Noggin now.
I've been watching these videos for an hour now, all this is so god damn interesting
Can I do a parody video on your video archive? Eg;
What if Earth were 2D flat but LeBron could still dunk?
What if Einstein became a pants salesman instead?
What if a galactic superhighway were built through our solar system and it was raised through eminent domain?
Just kidding 😄. Great series! Ideas. And Great found footage!
Being a globe (three axial dimensions), an Earth with a diameter half its present measurement would actually be 1/8 its size in volume. In order to have an Earth half the size of present-day Earth in terms of volume, its diameter would have to be 1/(2^1/3)*
(That's one-over the cubic-root of 2 for those who need help with the mathematical notation)
I subscribed bro! interesting stuff man :) keep it up
another greay video mate. do you take requests for new videos :)?
Thanks, and usually i try to make my own ideas into videos
Nice video. What would life be on earth if it was twice the size than it is now.
Wow your videos at really entertaining. how do they not have more views?
The earth was small pre world flood - the additional water which poured onto the earth from was eventually absorbed deep into the crust, this water heated up and exploded causing the ring of fire. The fractured the and created the tectonic plates and made the continents we have today.
Observe some of the stretch marks under the oceans.
The Previous atmospheric pressure would have been a lot higher, possible 20-30%. It possible never rained and was extremely humid. Uv light would have been a fraction of what we have today.
Really enjoy this channel !!!
if you cut the diameter in half, you don't cut the mass in half. The mass is reduced much further. When you calculate the volume of a sphere, you cube the radius.
One thing is for sure that the land price would increase by 4 times if the earth would be half size.
Really good and interesting video! Btw, where are you from?
Thanks, and i am from Serbia.
Ooo pa ti si balkanac, nikad nebi pogodio, bas imas super videe :)
"If it was a little bigger or a little smaller in the beginning"
Well life would be different, but I'm sure we would still exist. Just evolved differently.
If it would have been always smaller, then the human budy and the plants would have adjusted for it and we would be fine.
nature does this
hey human buddy
THANK YOU FOR USING METRIC SYSTEM, I LOVE YOU, and subscribed..
3:08 Universe Sandbox?
Finally my long-distance girlfriend would be closer.
Fine stuff . Keep on to more interesting astronomy . What would the sky look if the Earth and the Solar System would've been in one of the Magellanic Clouds .
If the Earth was shrunk to half its size, its mass would remain constant but its density would double. There is no loss of mass in this hypothetical scenario. So gravity would remain constant, no loss of atmosphere and so on.
Just FYI. The vid (and others like it) are really cool. :-)
If the EarTH shrinks by half its size, things will be different. (simple present + future)
If the EarTH shrank by half its size, we would notice. (simple past + simple conditional)
If the EarTH had shrunk by half its size, it would have been a problem. (past perfect + perfect conditional)
Those irregular verbs are hard! --> shrink, shrank, has/have/had shrunk. Even native speakers get it wrong all the time, particularly with "to go":
I go. I went. I have/had gone. --- NOT --- I go. I gone. I have/had went.
If you mean by size half of the mass and half of the diameter, the gravitational acceleration would still be 2x greater (19.62 m/s^2).
In order to have 4.9 m/s^2, you must keep the density constant.
Size typically doesn't involve mass, only volume. I think we can assume he assumed a constant density.
I love your space videos!!!🤣
You sir, are going to grow very fast
If it was half its size,Godzilla could destroy it in a much shorter time
What happens to mountains/buildings or roads? Are our houses half as big now? Are we bigger creatures in smaller cities?
I think your forgetting the whole fact that if animals did not change then we would all pretty much my Goliaths
Basketball nets will need to be raised much higher.
I was born on Mars so it's so hard to live on earth.
I assume you have heard of the Expanding Earth Hypothesis. Earth it is suggested was half the size and covered in water. Relative to gravity the EEH allows for the extinction of the dynasaurs due to doubling of gravitational pressure.
can you do a video about interstellar planets and stars (outside of our solar system)? it would be cool
Earth would not immediately lose it's atmosphere. It's Earth's magnetic field that protects the atmosphere from being stripped away by solar wind. If there wasn't any of that solar wind, the Moon, for instance, could have an atmosphere. Saturn's moon Titan (being so far from the Sun's solar wind) has a thick atmosphere (1.45 atm) and a gravity comparable to the Moon.
So, Earth would hold onto a breathable atmosphere from millennia, perhaps millions of years, or as long as the magnetic field lasts.
If earth were half of its size then Jason from far cry 3 hasn't said Faster Faster
Wouldn't things increase in density?
If Earth kept the same mass during and after the shrinkage.
next video what if proportions of land and water were opposites like 30% water and 70%land
Next video: What if Mars were twice its size
Also, a significantly-smaller Earth like this would mean a significantly-weaker magnetosphere -- one which likely wouldn't be strong enough to keep harmful radiation from the Sun from reaching the surface.
The description for a smaller Planet almost sounds like a perfect description of the Avatar Planet, Big Trees small planet tall people I don't know sounds weird LOL
Smaller earth = Cheaper gas
Hopefully
if the diameter is reduced by 2, then the volume is reduced by 4. So if we assume a constant density, gravity would reduce to a quarter of the present. Not to mention the decrease in surface area and the fact that it couldn't retain it's heat and would be like Mars!
Your math is wrong. Earths mass would reduce by 8, not 4, and gravity would only half, since it is affected by the inverse square of radius.
Why are you sure the earth would be less green? I can see lower winds making the original spreading of grasses (and maybe every other type of seed-reproducing plant) take longer, but once spread, why would lower wind speeds matter?
That might have been the story of Mars in the past when it was warmer and more likely to support life but still much smaller than earth. Many planets might support life and be earth like in that sense, but with so many variables, it might to be as good as earth. Intelligent life may have arose but their home world might not be as nice, they might see earth as a paradise planet.
That tree at 2:41 is a western redcedar but you are calling it the tallest tree in the world. It isn't even close! The tallest trees are redwoods.
He didn't say it was the tallest tree, he just said the tallest trees. You should probably hear him instead of guessing
The text clearly says "tallest tree in the world". You should probably learn to read instead of guessing
hyzercreek aren't the redwoods in cali
Your question makes no sense. The world's tallest tree is a redwood in a grove of redwoods where the canopy is over 300 feet with dozens of trees 340 or 350 feet and the tallest one is 372. The wind can't blow them over because they are in the grove. The tree in this photo is a lone tree 275 feet tall and was so tall the loggers spared it so it was standing by itself and it blew over in the first wind storm because there were no other trees to protect it. And it was in Oregon not Cali but what difference does that make?
hyzercreek Oh ok ty