# Jupiter-sized Earth **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236 "2004-02-02T22:37:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236/21 "2004-02-04T04:28:40Z")
When you’re thinking about any kind of global communication, you have to remember that our Jupitearth could easily have thousands of major language groups, as opposed to the dozen or so we have today. More natural barriers = more languages. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236/22 "2004-02-04T05:06:28Z")
Assuming everything else on JupiterEarth was the same (amount of metals, arable land percentage, etc), my guess is that it would have about the same population density as earth, meaning it would have 100 times the population. Populations grow exponentially until some external limiting factor crops up. Given that much area, we would have seen faster population growth. The curve of exploration would have been different, depending on the structure of the oceans. For instance, if everything was just scaled up so that the continents and oceans were 100 times bigger, then early ocean exploration would have been pretty much impossible due to the limitations of food and water carriage. No one could have crossed a 30,000 mile wide ocean with wooden frigates. So you probabaly would have seen more cultural advancement before cultures started clashing. This would make a very interesting science fiction novel! What would Earth look like today if the new world hadn’t been discovered for another 300 years? What if radio technology had come along before the ability to cross massive oceans? Can you imagine making that first contact? It’s be like us discovering ET. On the other hand, if you scale up the number of continents so that there are hundreds of them separated by earth-ocean-sized bodies of water, then people could have travelled around the world, but never have seen anything close to all of it. So there would still be civilizations evolving in isolation, I imagine. On that world, the advent of satellite mapping and global communications and something like the internet would be absolutely startling, because people who had never communicated before would begin talking. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236/23 "2004-02-04T06:55:57Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Assuming everything else on JupiterEarth was the same (amount of metals, arable land percentage, etc), my guess is that it would have about the same population density as earth, meaning it would have 100 times the population. Populations grow exponentially until some external limiting factor crops up. Given that much area, we would have seen faster population growth. Also doubtful. Until recently, available land has not been a limiting factor to population growth (perhaps with parts of Europe a partial exception). ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236/24 "2004-02-04T07:30:16Z")
It not just land availability - it’s war, plague, and other things that start cropping up as your population density rises. I’m just assuming that an all-else-being-equal earth 100 times the size of the current one would have 100 times the population. With exponential growth rates with a limiter, population approaches the limit at nearly the same time even with big differences in starting conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236/25 "2004-02-04T13:03:31Z")
Consider the biology of New Zealand. A land with no (native) mammals. Jupiterearth would have lots of nooks and crannies where odd animal and plant life could develop in isolation. Large insects? Surviving dinosaurs? Further for most of us First-Worlders, invasion by alien species is basically an old story. On this huge planet we would have hundreds of ‘Columbian Exchanges,’ the invasion of huge numbers of new beasts and plants. Could make for good cooking. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236/26 "2004-02-04T15:11:53Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > The recent computer game _Halo_ is set on a Ringworld. No, not really. Yeah, it’s a ring, but the titular “Halo” is a small ring that orbits a gas giant. Larry Niven’s Ringworld is an object of unimaginable size that occupies an entire solar orbit. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236/27 "2004-02-04T16:07:26Z")
**Testing** \*\*\*\* testing.\*\* Weird bold codes in this thread, eh? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiter-sized-earth/227236.md?page=1)