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daveed
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how come when we fall near the earth, our stomachs lurch, but astronauts in their free-fall state out in orbit feel fine?
daveed said:how come when we fall near the earth, our stomachs lurch, but astronauts in their free-fall state out in orbit feel fine?
This might involve visual stimulae as well as physical situations. I, for instance, am absolutely terrified of heights but will do anything in an aeroplane. There are no reference lines to the ground, so it doesn't feel like being 'high'. Low-g in a plane feels perfectly natural (barely noticeable), but it bugs the hell out of me in an elevator or in those instances when my car leaves the ground briefly. I would expect that to be worse in a space-station environment, where every movement makes your body act like a gyroscope and things that should be on the ground are floating around your head.pervect said:nobody has been able to predict which ones will get space-sick and which one's won't. One might think that the short duration free-fall flights in the "vomit comet" would help screen out astronauts that were prone to space-sickness, but apparently this doesn't actually work.
daveed said:how come when we fall near the earth, our stomachs lurch, but astronauts in their free-fall state out in orbit feel fine?
I will never understand why anyone would voluntarily climb out of a perfectly good aeroplane.timberfella said:I've been skydiving for 30 years
There is only one way to gain that understanding...Danger said:I will never understand why anyone would voluntarily climb out of a perfectly good aeroplane.
That would involve telepathy, which I don't believe in, because sure as hell I'm never going to do it myself.russ_watters said:There is only one way to gain that understanding...
So where do you get that name?Danger said:
You don't want to know. Let's just say that it's earned.russ_watters said:So where do you get that name?
Astronauts feel weightless in orbit because they are in a state of freefall. While in orbit, they are constantly falling towards the Earth due to the force of gravity, but their horizontal velocity is fast enough to keep them in a circular motion around the planet. This creates a feeling of weightlessness as there is no support force pushing back against the force of gravity.
On Earth, we feel the force of gravity pulling us towards the ground, but we also feel the support force from the ground pushing back against gravity. This creates a feeling of weight as our bodies are constantly being held up by the ground. In orbit, there is no support force, so we do not feel the weight of our own bodies.
Yes, gravity still exists in orbit. In fact, the force of gravity is what keeps objects in orbit around a larger body, such as the Earth. However, in orbit, the gravitational force is balanced by the centrifugal force of the object's motion, which creates the sensation of weightlessness.
No, you cannot feel the difference in gravity between Earth and orbit. The force of gravity is the same, but the sensation of weightlessness in orbit is due to the lack of a support force pushing back against gravity.
Microgravity, or the feeling of weightlessness, can have various effects on the human body. Some of these effects include muscle atrophy, fluid shifts, and changes in bone density. Astronauts in orbit must exercise regularly and undergo physical therapy upon their return to Earth to combat these effects.