What effects would moving between areas of different gravity have on a human?

Basically, this is a setting in which artificial gravity generation is possible and can be confined to certain areas with different settings. There are maybe five human colonies on planets with near-Earth gravity (ie close enough to 1g as to make not much difference), but there are also human colonies on worlds with less/more gravitational pull. Artificial gravity adjustment is used on these worlds to keep the areas of human habitation closer to 1g than the rest of the planet, but humans can still travel outside of these areas and into zones where the local gravity is in effect, so people are somewhat used to moving between different areas of gravity.

There are two types of artificial gravity generators. One is used for extremely large areas such as a walled in or domed city. Others are used for smaller indoor areas, such as a the interior of a building or a spaceship. The larger one has a dissipating strength - as in the closer you are to the generator the better the effect of it is (so basically if you are generating 1g on a planet with less gravity than Earth, you'd have to be closer to the central radius of the generator to actually feel 1g, with it incrementally decreasing the further away you get). The smaller one is far more evenly spaced in its gravity distribution, with very little dissipation of effect on the edges.

So my question is what would be the effects of moving rapidly from one area of gravity to another? Say a person is in a building set at 1g, but runs out into an area that is 0.7g? Or 1.3g? I'm not talking huge increments. The maximum deviation from Earth norm on the heavy end will be 1.5g, while the low end would be maybe 0.4g or 0.3g. I am also not adverse to the idea of a dial getting messed with and having an entire area made into 0g on accident.

Basically, I'm writing a chase scene. The characters are going to be transitioning between areas of different gravity. I need to know if by doing so, if there will be puking, tripping, accidental breakage of bones, bouncing, fainting, heart attacks, muscle strain, nothing, or all of the above.

posted about 8 years ago

Arad‭

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