Is it possible to simulate gravity in space
This can range from muscle atrophy, reduced bone density, impaired immune responses, impaired mental health and insomnia to name but a few.
Clearly, if we are to "take our destiny" and explore or even inhabit the stars, we will need to overcome the annoying need for gravity. Astronauts regularly experience intermittent linear accelerations during launch and breach of Earth's gravity and atmosphere.
These forces, however, are not technically artificial gravity but side effects of transit into the void. In this context, we mean sustained force created intentionally by technology intended to provide this effect.
Sadly no practical solution has been developed and deployed yet. This is mainly due to the size required and cost of delivering components into space. We could, of course, build the ship in orbit using material extracted from the moon or asteroids. Perhaps we could even us space elevators. If we could develop artificial gravity systems we could, in theory, extend human occupation of low gravity environments indefinitely.
This would be, of course, subject to overcoming other issues such as food, water and social interaction. Artificial gravity would eliminate, or at least mitigate, the adverse health effects of low to zero gravity on the human body.
Films and TV series' the likes of A Space Odyssey , Elysium or most importantly Superted 's space station, show us generally accepted solutions. Other solutions may involve magnetism or "fields" to provide the desired effects. Over the next few sections, we'll briefly discuss these different solutions. SuperTed's space station [Image Source: superted. This tends to be the go-to solution in many depictions of our future in space. In effect, this solution proposes utilizing a spinning cylinder, torus or sphere.
These would simulate the effects of gravity produced by massive objects like planets. The principle is to generate a force, often termed centrifugal force or effect to "pin" the astronauts to the outside edge of the spinning section of the station.
By varying the radius and rotating speed you can directly affect the simulated "gravity" force. Interestingly centrifugal force is often termed a pseudo force as it's not actually a force. It's actually more of an inertial movement away from the axis of rotation. It is, in effect, the result of the centripetal force of an object moving in a circular path. Semantics aside, you often feel this effect when using amusement park rides such as the Gravitron.
The spin of the ride pins you to the side and produces a, frankly, nauseating experience, perhaps it's just me. To get the best experience possible, please download a compatible browser. If you know your browser is up to date, you should check to ensure that javascript is enabled. If you could control gravity or inertial forces, you would have a propulsion breakthrough thrusting without rockets , a means to create synthetic gravity environments for space crews, a means to create zero-gravity environment on Earth - hey that could be fun - and a whole host of other things.
Like " Warp Drives ", this subject is also at the level of speculation, with some facets edging into the realm of science. The better news is that there is no science that says that gravity control is impossible. There is air, and as you say, there are walls and other obstacles.
As the station begins to rotate, the air inside will begin to move with it, so even without any other objects, a slight push from the surrounding air would make the astronaut start to move. Once the astronaut is moving, it is only a matter of time before they come into contact with the outer edge of the rotating space station which is soon going to be the floor.
Now we need to think about how the centrifugal force works. There is another way to think about it that I will describe here, which makes it seem like it's not a real force at all! Ok, so what is a force? A force is something that causes a mass to accelerate.
We defined mass up above, but what is acceleration? The simplest definition is that acceleration is a change in how fast something is going or the direction that it is going.
So, our astronaut had been nudged by something inside the space station that is rotating with the station itself, and the astronaut is now drifting along in some direction. The laws of physics say that the astronaut will travel in a straight line with no acceleration until some new force acts. If you are an astronaut traveling in a straight line inside a round, rotating space station, eventually that straight line will intersect with the "floor".
When it does, your body wants to keep traveling in a straight line, but the floor is in the way, so it gives you a nudge inward and in the direction that it is moving. The floor exerts a force, which causes acceleration. You can probably see where this is going. As the astronaut gets bumped along by the rotating floor, eventually, they will be going at the same speed.
But remember, acceleration is a change in speed or direction! If you watched from afar, the astronaut would appear to be traveling in a curved path, around and around the circular space station. To travel in a curved path, there must be some acceleration to keep that astronaut's path turning, and therefore there must be some force. Which direction is the force? Well, if you were the astronaut, you would now be standing on the floor of the rotating space station with your feet pointing outward from the axis of rotation.
It would feel like the floor is pushing on your feet, so the force is actually inward, toward the central axis! Confused yet? Ok, think of it this way. When you stand on the ground on the earth, which way is the force of gravity? So why don't you fall in a straight line to the center of the Earth? Because the surface of the earth pushes up on your shoes with the exact same force but in the opposite direction! Same idea in the space station: the centrifugal "force" appears to push objects outward, but the strength of the space station provides an opposing "centripetal force" which pushes inward.
The end result is that it feels similar to walking on the surface of a planet if the space station is spinning at the right speed. He also loves explaining all aspects of astronomy. Check out his blog! Can artificial gravity be created in space? Can gravity be produced uniformly over a surface, from gravitons???
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