0

If one were standing on a body that is part of a binary system such as Pluto/Charon, would the g-forces of the motion of the planet be perceptible by a human?

trpt4him
  • 405
  • 1
  • 4
  • 6
  • 2
    What do you mean by perceptible? Astronomically observable? Measurable on a lab experiment? Perceptible g-forces on humans? – Emilio Pisanty Feb 05 '13 at 18:58
  • I have updated the question. – trpt4him Feb 05 '13 at 21:50
  • Then zhermes' answer applies. Humans feel g-forces of order 1 g (unless they change suddenly). Assuming the planet has Earth-like surface gravity, that puts the planet pretty near the Roche limit. – Emilio Pisanty Feb 06 '13 at 10:10

1 Answers1

2

Assuming you mean, 'could a person feel it?' - then no. To be able to feel the effect of the motion, the system would have to be near break-up (with the surface near the Roche/Tidal limit), which never really happens for binary-planets.

For a planet very near a star, it could be perceptible... but in most cases you'd be burned up (etc) due to the close proximity to the star.