A Couple World-building Questions

[Simon Hogwood]

Hi, everybody. I've been doing some mental world-building recently, and would appreciate some help researching/reality-checking a couple ideas.

First, assuming a planet with Earth's approximate size and land-to-water ratio, how would having two smaller moons rather than one Luna-sized moon affect tides and calendars (or anything else you can think of)?

Second, what biological barriers are there to having a species identical to humans, except that some have naturally bi-colored hair? I've heard that animals such as zebras that have stripes and suchlike actually have skin colors that reflect the patterns, is this true? Or relevant?

Again, any thoughts on either of these would be appreciated. Thanks 

[meg_evonne]

Yes, pretty sure that zebras have different color skin beneath their stripes.  Also modern horses with the color called, dun, which is a tan color, often with tan or black colored manes and tails actually can also have the wild dorsal stripping and also stripes along their upper legs, although the skin there is the same I think.  (A more domesticated version called a buckskin - like Pa on Bonanza, have the light tan skin with black mane and tail.)  My own experience is that nothing is more stubborn and unwilling to learn than a dun with dorsal and the leg stripping.  They also tend to buck in heavy, nasty, ground thumping jumps, compared to the more civilized bucking style of other horses.  ouch yes, the only horse that i took a financial loss on.  His name was Ross when I wasn't cussing him out and ducking his flying hooves.

Moons, good question.  I've no idea.  Good luck with that.  I never figured out how two or more moons work anyway, unless they were in the same obit across from each other.  Yep, my science classes never went that far.  I'd expect some wicked wild tides and storm patterns.

[belial.1980]

Interesting ideas. Hmm, there are a lot of factors to consider. Size, distance, orientation, revolution speed, etc. But you'd probably have some pretty interesting tidal effects which would tie into the weather. Maybe try reading up on Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Demos. Mars is obviously a lot drier than earth but it might give you some ideas.

I'd recommend not to get too quantitative on your figures because if you make miscalculations or apply improper physics people will call you on it. I think you're better off looking for plausible ideas and fudging it without offering too many hard data facts. After that just run with it. Good luck!

[Philliph]

I can't remember what the website was called, but i was watching this show on the science channel that went over the two moons, phobos and demos. "If Mars had liquid water" or somethign like that.

It was a crazy episode with all different types of weather patterns being theorized and all that cool stuff.

this doesn't really help you, but you get the idea. the idea has been worked before and you CAN find information on it. 

-Philliph

[Sebastian]

I believe you can find people with multiple haircolours - specifically black and white, as some of the hair has changed colour.
Some sort of evolutionary pressure for multicoloured hair would be good, either camouflage or attracting mates, like birds.

As for the moons, an important question would be how they are placed... if you have 2 small moons as far out as luna or even further out, their reduced gravitational pull would be decreased and therefore have a smaller effect on the planet, whereas a lower orbit could compensate for that.
Tides would more or less consist of 2 superpositioned tidal effects... not necessarily with the same frequency or amplitude. While predictable, the total effect should be that you can ignore it most of the time but you'll get a significant tide up or down a few times per week as the 2 tides combine.
I believe seasons are primarily caused by earth's tilt and distance from the sun, rather than the moon.

Other effects?.... well possibly more falling stars since 2 small moons would be less efficient at vacuuming up incoming meteorites.

[Simon Hogwood]

Thanks, everybody, this should be a big help! 

[Gruud]

Blargh, how could two people possibly be thinking of having a world with two moons?   

At any rate, go to wikipedia and look up orbital resonance, as it will apply to many stable two moon systems.

There's a bit more there, concerning some of the other factors, but not much.

The Science Channel eh? All I've ever seen there is the one about "what if we had no moon". I'll have to go and have a look for the other one.

[KarlTenBrew]

Haircolor: Depends on what you mean.  There are plenty of current examples of people who have
1) An even mix of multiple hair-colors throughout hair/beard/body
OR
2) Specific sections [i.e.: Head-hair, eye-brows, temples, side-burns, cheecks, chin, mustache, lower-lip, body (upper, lower, heavy-areas)] that each obey their own rules

so if you're asking about true striping patterns and/or exotic hair colors (blue, green) the answer is 'No, but plausible'.  For example, if you had humans who naturally have blue hair because of a genetic mutation, or have a variety of potential hair colors for the same reason, no one's really going to call you out on it.  The same would apply to having true stripe patterns.


As far as moons, reading up on Mars and Titan (Saturn's moon) can provide some ideas about tides and weather.  Just keep the actual size/distance/rotation of said moons unknown, and you've got fudge room.

[Kris_W]

Why bi-colored hair? Like calico cats? How far do you need to follow this idea to make your story work?

One interesting thing you might do with the bi-colored hair is the concept that chimeras are normal in most of your Viewpoint Species. You can Google chimera for details. This means they would have two distinct genetic lines in each body. Some genetic diseases could be mitigated this way and they could have a higher tolerance to radiation. The down sides might be less common pregnancy, more sever auto-immune diseases and a higher biological load due to duplicated processes.