t = 5 years
5年后
After five years, gravity would be 25 percent stronger. If you weighed 70 kg when the expansion started, you 8217;d weigh 88 kg now.
5年后，重力增加了25％。如果你在扩张开始时有70千克，那么现在你就有88千克了。
Most of our infrastructure would have collapsed. The cause of the collapse would be the expanding ground below them, not the increased gravity. Surprisingly, most skyscrapers would hold up fine under much higher gravity.6 For most of them, the limiting factor isn 8217;t weight, but wind.
绝大多数的基础设施都已经塌了，原因是它们脚底下的土地在扩张，而不是重力变大了。令人惊奇的是，绝大多数摩天大楼在重力显著变大的情况下仍然十分坚挺。6对它们而言，限制因素不是重量，而是风。
t = 10 years
10年后
After 10 years, gravity would be 50 percent stronger. In the scenario where the atmosphere isn 8217;t expanding, the air would become thin enough to be difficult to breathe even at sea level. In the other scenario, we 8217;d be OK for a little while longer.
10年后，重力增加了50％。如果大气不随着扩张，那么即使在海平面，空气也已经稀薄到了无法呼吸的程度。如果大气一起扩张的话，我们还能再撑一会儿。
t = 40 years
40年后
After 40 years, Earth 8217;s surface gravity would have tripled.7 At this point, even the strongest humans would be able to walk only with great difficulty. Breathing would be difficult. Trees would collapse. Crops wouldn 8217;t stand up under their own weight. Virtually every mountainside would see massive landslides as material sought out a shallower angle of repose.
40年后，地球的重力变成了最初的3倍。7此时此刻，即使是最强壮的人也只能勉强才能走路。呼吸也变得很艰难，树都倒了，粮食被自己的重量压得抬不起头。几乎每座山的山坡都可以见到巨型滑坡，因为此时的静止角比以往要更小。
Geologic activity would also accelerate. Most of the Earth 8217;s heat is provided by radioactive decay of minerals in the crust and mantle,8 and more Earth means more heat. Since the volume expands faster than the surface area, the overall heat flowing out per square meter will increase.
地质运动也会加剧。地球产生的大部分热来自于位于地壳和地幔之间的放射性物质的衰变放热，8而更多的物质意味着更多的热。由于体积扩张的速度比表面积快，因此总体平均每平方米发出的热量就会变多。
It 8217;s not actually enough to substantially warm the planet-Earth 8217;s surface temperature is dominated by the atmosphere and the Sun-but it would lead to more volcanoes, more earthquakes, and faster tectonic movement. This would be similar to the situation on Earth billions of years ago, when we had more radioactive material and a hotter mantle.
不过这些还不足以使这颗星球温度大幅升高——地球的表面温度主要取决于大气层和太阳——但更多的热会导致更多火山爆发、地震，以及更快的地壳运动。这和几十亿年前的地球相似，那时地球具有更多的放射性物质，所以地幔温度会更高。
More active plate tectonics might be good for life. Plate tectonics play a key role in stabilizing the Earth 8217;s climate, and planets smaller than Earth (like Mars) don 8217;t have enough internal heat to sustain long-term geologic activity. A larger planet would allow for more geologic activity, which is why some scientists think that exoplanets slightly larger than Earth (“super-Earths”) could be more friendly to life than Earth-sized ones.
更加活跃的板块构造对生命来说可能有些好处。板块构造对稳定地球的气候起着关键作用，而比地球小的那些星球（比如火星）内部没有足够多的热来维持长期的地质运动。更大的星球意味着更多的地质运动，这也是为什么一些科学家认为生命在比地球稍大一些的星球（所谓的“超级地球”）会比和地球差不多大的星球上活得更好一些。