Just how strong is the Air pressure

Click For Summary
Air pressure on Earth is caused by the weight of air molecules being pulled down by gravity, creating a force that acts uniformly in all directions. Humans maintain stability against this pressure due to internal bodily forces and evolutionary adaptations, allowing our bodies to withstand atmospheric pressure without being crushed. Bone density loss in space can weaken individuals, but inertia does not directly relate to air pressure resistance; rather, our bodies are designed to cope with the pressures of our environment. The concept of "air crush" is misleading, as the pressure we experience is balanced by internal forces within our bodies. Overall, human biology has evolved to thrive under the conditions of Earth's gravity and atmospheric pressure.
  • #31
The space suit, or a submarine, serve the function of keeping a human body in a safe shell, an environment which they can survive in.
Exposure to the environment outside the shell is lethal, so most people don't even think about trying it.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #32
rootone said:
The space suit, or a submarine, serve the function of keeping a human body in a safe shell, an environment which they can survive in.
Exposure to the environment outside the shell is lethal, so most people don't even think about trying it.

So my contradiction is correct?
 
  • #33
I'm not sure what the contradiction is.
The space suit or similar is providing air pressure which is similar to that at the surface of Earth.
Therefore the human being inside it is not exposed to pressure conditions which would cause physical breakdown and deformation of their body organs in a number of different ways.
Yes you could describe that as applying a force in that the pressurisation of the suit is achieved by using compressed air bottles, or a pump, but I don't see how that's very relevant, to the occupant, they are only interested in the suit providing a survivable environent
I guess that people who design space suits though - it must be for them a matter of great importance that the materials used are strong enough to maintain their integrity when subjected extreme differentials of pressure.
 
  • #34
I see, I've heard there are "chambers" which have very less gravity{which can make us float in that object"} I would like to know how it achieved?
 
  • #35
AshUchiha said:
I see, I've heard there are "chambers" which have very less gravity{which can make us float in that object"} I would like to know how it achieved?
What ARE you talking about? Do you mean swimming pools that are used to train astronauts? They are just swimming pools. The spacesuits are set to provide neutral buoyancy, but gravity is still there. Buoyancy and gravity are not the same thing.
 
  • #36
phinds said:
What ARE you talking about? Do you mean swimming pools that are used to train astronauts? They are just swimming pools. The spacesuits are set to provide neutral buoyancy, but gravity is still there. Buoyancy and gravity are not the same thing.

Exactly sir!, I see, so is it impossible to have "zero gravity"?
 
  • #37
AshUchiha said:
I see, I've heard there are "chambers" which have very less gravity{which can make us float in that object"} I would like to know how it achieved?
You might be thinking of aircraft which are sometimes used to simulate weightlessness.
The plane goes into a steep dive calculated such that occupants are in free fall towards the earth, effectively making them weightless.
This can only be done for a short period of time because the plane has to end the dive, at this point the occupants pay for the weightlessness by experiencing 2 or 3 times their normal weight.
 
  • #38
AshUchiha said:
Exactly sir!, I see, so is it impossible to have "zero gravity"?
I'm not sure if you are confusing zero gravity with weightlessness. You can, as rootone pointed out, have weightlessness in a gravitational field if you are in free fall.
 
  • #39
Weightlessness is almost impossible?? Mass can neither be created nor be destroyed, and our Earth's gravity hasn't replenished, so we are facing gravity always {While on Earth}, And as

Weight= Mass+Gravity, one which cannot be destroyed and one which is always present. So I wonder how can we counter these and attain weightlessness?

Also Free fall towards Earth, would increase our Acceleration due to g, so gravity is acting on us. So what you might be explaining would be just "near" to weightlessness ?
 
  • #40
AshUchiha said:
Also Free fall towards Earth, would increase our Acceleration due to g, so gravity is acting on us. So what you might be explaining would be just "near" to weightlessness ?
No, it is exactly weightlessness.
 
  • #41
AshUchiha said:
Weightlessness is almost impossible?? Mass can neither be created nor be destroyed, and our Earth's gravity hasn't replenished, so we are facing gravity always {While on Earth}, And as

Weight= Mass+Gravity, one which cannot be destroyed and one which is always present. So I wonder how can we counter these and attain weightlessness?

Also Free fall towards Earth, would increase our Acceleration due to g, so gravity is acting on us. So what you might be explaining would be just "near" to weightlessness ?

You are weightless (notice that no one is saying massless) if you don't feel the floor under your feet. This is happening if you are in an elevator or aircraft that are in free fall, if you are completely submerged in a pool, etc. It is exactly the same thing as if you would orbit the Earth in a satellite.
 
  • #42
virgil1612 said:
You are weightless (notice that no one is saying massless) if you don't feel the floor under your feet. This is happening if you are in an elevator or aircraft that are in free fall, if you are completely submerged in a pool, etc. It is exactly the same thing as if you would orbit the Earth in a satellite.
No, being in a pool is not weightless, nor does it feel so. Float on your back in a pool sometime an lift your arm up. It will not feel weightless at all, whereas if you are in orbit, you really are weightless. As I said previously, being in a pool can provide neutral buoyancy but not weightlessness.
 
  • #43
phinds said:
No, being in a pool is not weightless, nor does it feel so. Float on your back in a pool sometime an lift your arm up. It will not feel weightless at all, whereas if you are in orbit, you really are weightless. As I said previously, being in a pool can provide neutral buoyancy but not weightlessness.

Well, of course it's not exact weightlessness. But it's pretty close. And about lifting the arm, I was mentioning that you should be "completely submerged". But of course it's not the real thing. But hey, it's good enough for the astronauts!
 
  • #44
But weight is the addition of mass and gravity , so I must include it right?. I guess by weightlessness you mean having no opposing force on us preventing us from falling to the core of the Earth. Is that what you meant by that?
 
  • #45
virgil1612 said:
You are weightless (notice that no one is saying massless) if you don't feel the floor under your feet. This is happening if you are in an elevator or aircraft that are in free fall, if you are completely submerged in a pool, etc. It is exactly the same thing as if you would orbit the Earth in a satellite.
So I was right, but it can't be called weightlessness, I would rather recommend naming it "feel as if weightless"
 
  • #46
AshUchiha said:
So I was right, but it can't be called weightlessness, I would rather recommend naming it "feel as if weightless"

In Physics books they are talking about 'real weight' and 'apparent weight'. The real weight is mg, so for this to be zero you would need be to somewhere far from any celestial objects (in fact this is never zero), so it wouldn't be practical. The 'apparent weight' is defined as the normal force N, which is the interaction force between your feet and the floor. This force can be zero (or almost zero in the case of the pool) in the situations described in a previous post. It is in connection with the 'apparent weight' that the term 'weightlessness' is defined and used.
 
  • #47
virgil1612 said:
In Physics books they are talking about 'real weight' and 'apparent weight'. The real weight is mg, so for this to be zero you would need be to somewhere far from any celestial objects (in fact this is never zero), so it wouldn't be practical. The 'apparent weight' is defined as the normal force N, which is the interaction force between your feet and the floor. This force can be zero (or almost zero in the case of the pool) in the situations described in a previous post. It is in connection with the 'apparent weight' that the term 'weightlessness' is defined and used.

Oh my god! I've been studying Weight as the summation of Mass and gravity, and not Mass times gravity!.I'm soo sorry virgil :H:H:H.
Tell me this, would I feel acceleration due to gravity if I put my feet above from ground for like, say 1/2 second. The accel. due to gravity is 9.8m/s^2. So its for 1 second right?. So what about when my feet is half second to upward to reach the ground?. Would it be the half of 9.8m/s^2
 
  • #48
AshUchiha said:
Oh my god! I've been studying Weight as the summation of Mass and gravity, and not Mass times gravity!.I'm soo sorry virgil :H:H:H.
Tell me this, would I feel acceleration due to gravity if I put my feet above from ground for like, say 1/2 second. The accel. due to gravity is 9.8m/s^2. So its for 1 second right?. So what about when my feet is half second to upward to reach the ground?. Would it be the half of 9.8m/s^2
When you jump up such that your body is completely off the ground, you are weightless until you touch down again. You are being acted on by gravity but you have no weight, exactly as though you were in orbit. This is what I was trying to get you to understand earlier.
 
  • #49
True , thanks sir. Though the velocity we will fall would be different due to the different mass :smile::smile:. And what about my accel. due to gravity question??
 
  • #50
AshUchiha said:
Though the velocity we will fall would be different due to the different mass

No. The velocity of a falling object is independent of the mass. This is a FAQ up in the "STEM Learning Materials" section of this forum.

This thread has drifted far from its original topic, and there is little point in continuing the random walk approach to learning physics. Instead, I suggest that you work on acquiring a clear sense of what is meant by "mass", "weight", "speed", "velocity", "force", and "acceleration" and the mathematical relationships between them. Until you've built this foundation (which we can help you with) you will find it very difficult to make sense of anything here.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
4K
  • · Replies 50 ·
2
Replies
50
Views
5K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
8K
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
18K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
4K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
6K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K