
Jupiter - A Rockless Planet, Earth’s Giant Shield
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Origin & Age
Earth is 4.6 billion years old; Jupiter formed around the same time. As the Solar System’s largest planet, Jupiter reshaped the young system and set the stage for Earth’s stability.
Jupiter Specs
Item | Value | Versus Earth |
---|---|---|
Age | ~4.6 billion years | Same |
Diameter | 142,984 km | ~11× Earth |
Mass | 318 Earth masses | — |
Gravity (cloud tops) | ~2.5 g | ~2.5× Earth |
Mean temp. (upper atmosphere) | ~−110°C | Colder |
Atmosphere | ~75% H2, ~24% He; traces of CH4, NH3 | Not breathable |
Can humans move bare-skinned? | No (fatal pressure & winds) | Impossible |
With spacesuit? | No (no surface; crushing pressure) | Impossible |
Structure & Composition
Jupiter has no solid surface. Layers transition from molecular hydrogen clouds to liquid hydrogen, then to a deep layer of metallic hydrogen that generates a powerful magnetic field. A small rocky/icy core may exist, but it is buried beneath immense pressure.
Rock Specs (Materials View)
Rock | Key traits | Exists on Earth? | Uses (material) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Surface rock | None — no solid surface | — | — | All layers are gas/liquid; “ground” is absent |
Granite | Requires water-assisted differentiation and plates | Abundant on Earth | Lanterns, monuments, sculpture, gravestones | Cannot form on Jupiter |
Earth’s Giant Shield
Jupiter’s gravity perturbs or captures comets and asteroids, reducing impacts on the inner planets. This “shielding effect” likely helped preserve Earth’s long-term habitability and human history.
Environment & Human Activity
There is no land to stand on. Winds, radiation, and pressure increase with depth, making bare-skin activity impossible and spacesuited EVAs impossible. Jupiter can only be studied by orbiters and flybys.
Contrast with Earth
Jupiter is a rockless hydrogen–helium world. Earth, with water and plate tectonics, built granite continents—the physical stage for culture and civilization.
Summary
- Origin: ~4.6 Ga; largest planet, reshaping the Solar System
- Composition: H/He layers, metallic hydrogen; possible deep core
- Human viability: bare-skin no / spacesuit no (no surface)
- Granite cannot form without water and plates
Jupiter has no granite and cannot produce the granite products sold by japanstones.shop.
Related Articles (Planet & Stone Series)
- The Moon — A Fork After the Giant Impact
- Mercury — An Iron World That Resembles the Moon
- Venus — A basalt world; granite hints suggest past water
- Earth — Granite, water, and the breathable atmosphere
- Mars — A Red Basaltic World with Traces of Granite
- Saturn — No granite; a gas-giant realm