NO SIGNAL殻の信号がとぎれました…The shell signal was lost…SHELL.SYS · 空気の境界がなくなりましたSHELL.SYS · the edge holding the air is gone
海Sea15℃
空気Air15℃
200−50−100
0
海をタップ → 水のかたまりを落とす / ドラッグでまわす・つまむ(ホイール)で寄るTap the sea → drop a lump of water · drag to turn · pinch (wheel) to zoom
ちいさな地球A Tiny Earth
地球を同じ材料のまま小さくしたら、海と森はどう動く? 空気は透明な殻で閉じこめている(仮定)。
If Earth were shrunk but kept the same materials, how would its seas and forests behave? The air is held in by a transparent shell (an assumption).
出来事(押すとその時刻へ)Events (tap to jump to that time)
ドラッグで見まわす。海をタップすると、そこに石が落ちる。高さの強調は ×1、生きものは本当の大きさ。Drag to look around. Tap the sea to drop a stone there. Heights are not exaggerated (×1) and animals are shown at their real size.
幹の太さは 60 cm のまま、高さだけ変えます。自分の重さで曲がる高さをこえると、木は曲がって倒れます。風が吹くと木がゆれ、葉は風に運ばれます(ゆれの大きさは見た目)。Only the height changes; the trunk stays 60 cm thick. Above the height at which a tree bends under its own weight, the trees bend over. When the wind blows, trees sway and leaves are carried by the wind (the size of the sway is just for show).
この星の物理ではWith this planet's physics
さいきんのできごとRecent events
光は見た目だけです(正直モードの温度は一日でならした日光で計算)。地形は見た目だけ段々にしています(陸は 400 m、海の底は 1000 m ごと。地球の大きさのときの高さで)。海と空気の計算は、なめらかな高さのまま。Light is only for show (honest-mode temperatures use sunlight averaged over a day). The terrain is drawn in steps just for looks (every 400 m on land and 1000 m on the sea floor, in Earth-size heights). The sea and air are calculated with smooth heights.
海の平均の深さ 3682 m: Charette, M. A. & Smith, W. H. F. (2010) The volume of Earth’s ocean. Oceanography 23(2): 112–114.
海面の風の力(抗力係数 約 1.2×10⁻³): Large, W. G. & Pond, S. (1981) Open ocean momentum flux measurements in moderate to strong winds. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 11: 324–336.
浅水の式: Vallis, G. K. (2017) Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.
大気が宇宙へ逃げるしくみ: Catling, D. C. & Kasting, J. F. (2017) Atmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds, 5章. Cambridge University Press.
氷と水の蒸気圧: Murphy, D. M. & Koop, T. (2005) Review of the vapour pressures of ice and supercooled water for atmospheric applications. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 131: 1539–1565.
水の蒸発係数: Eames, I. W., Marr, N. J. & Sabir, H. (1997) The evaporation coefficient of water: a review. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 40: 2963–2973.
太陽定数: Kopp, G. & Lean, J. L. (2011) A new, lower value of total solar irradiance. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38: L01706.
歩きから走りに変わる速さ(フルード数 0.5、重力が弱いとき): Kram, R., Domingo, A. & Ferris, D. P. (1997) Effect of reduced gravity on the preferred walk-run transition speed. J. Exp. Biol. 200: 821–826.
真空近くでの意識と生存(犬): Bancroft, R. W. & Dunn, J. E. (1965) Times of consciousness, collapse, and survival and pathology examinations of dogs rapidly decompressed to near vacuum environment. USAF School of Aerospace Medicine SAM-TR-65-48.
自分の重さで曲がる柱の高さ: Greenhill, A. G. (1881) Determination of the greatest height consistent with stability that a vertical pole or mast can be made, and of the greatest height to which a tree of given proportions can grow. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 4: 65–73。木への当てはめ: McMahon, T. (1973) Size and shape in biology. Science 179: 1201–1204.
木の高さの限界(水): Koch, G. W., Sillett, S. C., Jennings, G. M. & Davis, S. D. (2004) The limits to tree height. Nature 428: 851–854.
雨つぶがちぎれる大きさ: Villermaux, E. & Bossa, B. (2009) Single-drop fragmentation determines size distribution of raindrops. Nature Physics 5: 697–702.
本物の地球の地形: NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (2009) ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information(doi:10.7289/V5C8276M、2026-10-12 に取得、1°ごとに間引いて使用)。Amante, C. & Eakins, B. W. (2009) ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis. NOAA Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-24.
森の割合: FAO (2020) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020.
使っているもの
three.js r128(MIT License)、フォント: Google Fonts(SIL Open Font License)
About this app
This app calculates a planet made of the same material as Earth (mean density 5513 kg/m³) with only its radius made smaller. Gravity gets weaker in proportion to the radius (g = 4/3·π·G·ρ·R), and mountain heights and sea depths shrink by the same ratio. Trees and people do not shrink, so they are drawn at their real size (trees are 30 m). A day lasts 24 hours, as on Earth.
The sea is calculated with the shallow-water equations on about 10,000 cells covering the planet (gravity, the Coriolis force, wind, and friction at the bottom, including water spilling onto land and draining back). The sea of a shrunken Earth is very shallow compared with the length of its waves, so these equations apply.
What is simplified (this is a learning tool)
Transparent shell (an assumption): on a small planet gravity is weak and the air would escape into space (on a 1 km planet the escape speed is about 1.8 m/s, while air molecules fly at about 500 m/s). Normally a shell (at 1.25 times the radius) is assumed to hold air at 1 atm and 15 °C.
Honest mode (remove the shell): the spreading of the air is calculated with one-dimensional fluid equations along the radius (with gravity, no heat exchange). For large planets where gravity holds the air (λ > 5), the fluid is not calculated; the escape rate is estimated with formulas (a Parker flow kept at 15 °C high up, and Jeans escape). If the Sun heats the upper air, it escapes faster.
Sea: when the air pressure drops below the vapor pressure of water (1706 Pa at 15 °C), the water boils, cools by evaporation, and freezes. The evaporation rate uses the formula for evaporation into a vacuum (Hertz–Knudsen, evaporation coefficient 1 = the fastest case). Deep water, where the weight of the water keeps the pressure above the vapor pressure, does not boil and freezes from the top under the ice (heat conduction through ice). The ice surface temperature balances sunlight averaged over a day and over latitude (solar constant 1361 W/m²; ice albedo 0.5 is an estimate) against heat radiation and sublimation. Day and night, the equator and the poles, boiling weakened by an ice lid, and heat from inside the planet are left out.
Animals (deer, rabbits, small birds, small fish, large fish): the app calculates “what would happen with this planet’s physics if they moved the way they do on Earth.” Sizes, weights, jump and swimming speeds are typical values (estimates). Walking speed is limited to a Froude number of 0.5, where walking turns into running (Kram et al. 1997). After a jump, the flight is calculated with gravity (weakening with the square of the distance), air drag (drag coefficient 1, estimate), wind and the Coriolis force; it stops if it hits the shell. Fish cannot enter water shallower than twice their body height (estimate). Animals drown if spilled water is deeper than their body height (estimate). Birth, eating and growth are not included. Animals are drawn 20× larger so you can see them.
Animals in honest mode: when the pressure falls below the vapor pressure of water at body temperature (37 °C; about 6.3 kPa, the Armstrong limit), body fluids begin to boil. In experiments where dogs were decompressed to near vacuum, they lost consciousness in 9–12 seconds, and all dogs exposed for less than 2 minutes survived (Bancroft & Dunn 1965). Here animals lose consciousness after 10 s and die after 2.5 min (estimate). Fish die when their sea boils or freezes; they survive if liquid water remains under the ice (oxygen is not calculated). Animals that were floating or flying are carried into space with the escaping air if that wind is faster than the escape speed.
Look up close: you stand with your eyes 1.6 m high, and time starts at real speed. A jump uses the same push as a standing jump on Earth (50 cm, take-off speed 3.1 m/s) for a 70 kg person with a front area of 0.7 m² (estimate), with gravity, air drag, wind and the Coriolis force. Splash drops (1–6 mm across) and raindrops move with gravity and air drag (drag coefficient 0.5–0.6, estimate) and are carried by the wind. The largest raindrop is taken as about 6 mm across on Earth (larger drops break up; discussed by Villermaux & Bossa 2009) and scaled by √(Earth’s gravity ÷ this planet’s gravity), following the balance of surface tension and gravity (the capillary length) — an estimate. The rain is something you make fall; clouds are not calculated.
Forest: the height at which a tree bends under its own weight uses the length at which a uniform column buckles under its own weight (0.788×(E D²/(ρg))^(1/3), Greenhill’s problem), with green-wood stiffness 10 GPa, density 800 kg/m³ and a 60 cm trunk (rough values, estimates). Real trees are thicker at the base and carry branches and leaves, so this is a rough guide. Wind loads are not included. On Earth, the limit to how high trees can lift water is set by gravity plus friction in the water pipes (Koch et al. 2004). The gravity part can be calculated, but the friction part has not been measured in weak gravity, so no new height limit is given. The falling speed of leaves assumes 0.1 kg of leaf per m² and a drag coefficient of 1 (estimates). The size of the sway is for show (wind force and wood stiffness do not depend on gravity, so trees sway almost as on Earth).
Forest: without air, water leaves the leaves and the trees die. How fast they die is not calculated (the color change is only for show).
You choose the wind (natural winds are not calculated). The wind blows around an axis.
The flow carrying its own momentum (advection) is left out. Breaking waves are not calculated.
The planet’s interior is treated as rigid. The terrain is either “Real Earth” (ETOPO1 sampled every 1° ≈ 110 km; high peaks are lowered by the sampling) or “Made-up” (only the spread of heights is made Earth-like: 29% land, mean sea depth 3682 m). Forests cover about 31% of the land (FAO 2020). On the real Earth, where forests grow is a rough guide based on latitude (more in the tropics and at 45–60°, fewer in the dry belt at 18–35°; this is not a real forest map). Tree numbers assume 400 trees per hectare; when there are too many, fewer are drawn.
The bottom friction coefficient 0.0025 is a value often used for tides and storm surges (estimate).
Below a radius of 100 m, surface tension and the stickiness of water take over and these equations no longer fit.
Mean sea depth 3682 m: Charette, M. A. & Smith, W. H. F. (2010) The volume of Earth’s ocean. Oceanography 23(2): 112–114.
Wind force on the sea (drag coefficient about 1.2×10⁻³): Large, W. G. & Pond, S. (1981) Open ocean momentum flux measurements in moderate to strong winds. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 11: 324–336.
Shallow-water equations: Vallis, G. K. (2017) Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.
How atmospheres escape to space: Catling, D. C. & Kasting, J. F. (2017) Atmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds, chapter 5. Cambridge University Press.
Vapor pressure of ice and water: Murphy, D. M. & Koop, T. (2005) Review of the vapour pressures of ice and supercooled water for atmospheric applications. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 131: 1539–1565.
Evaporation coefficient of water: Eames, I. W., Marr, N. J. & Sabir, H. (1997) The evaporation coefficient of water: a review. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 40: 2963–2973.
Solar constant: Kopp, G. & Lean, J. L. (2011) A new, lower value of total solar irradiance. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38: L01706.
Walk–run transition (Froude number 0.5 in weak gravity): Kram, R., Domingo, A. & Ferris, D. P. (1997) Effect of reduced gravity on the preferred walk-run transition speed. J. Exp. Biol. 200: 821–826.
Consciousness and survival near vacuum (dogs): Bancroft, R. W. & Dunn, J. E. (1965) Times of consciousness, collapse, and survival and pathology examinations of dogs rapidly decompressed to near vacuum environment. USAF School of Aerospace Medicine SAM-TR-65-48.
Height of a column bending under its own weight: Greenhill, A. G. (1881) Determination of the greatest height consistent with stability that a vertical pole or mast can be made, and of the greatest height to which a tree of given proportions can grow. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 4: 65–73. Applied to trees: McMahon, T. (1973) Size and shape in biology. Science 179: 1201–1204.
Limits to tree height (water): Koch, G. W., Sillett, S. C., Jennings, G. M. & Davis, S. D. (2004) The limits to tree height. Nature 428: 851–854.
Size at which raindrops break up: Villermaux, E. & Bossa, B. (2009) Single-drop fragmentation determines size distribution of raindrops. Nature Physics 5: 697–702.
Real Earth terrain: NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (2009) ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (doi:10.7289/V5C8276M, accessed 2026-10-12, sampled every 1°). Amante, C. & Eakins, B. W. (2009) ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis. NOAA Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-24.
Share of forest: FAO (2020) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020.
Software used
three.js r128 (MIT License); fonts: Google Fonts (SIL Open Font License)