We all know the pictures of the astronauts on the ISS floating around. We also suspect that a lack of gravity is bad for the body as the muscles go weak and such.
Why don’t spaceships just rotate to cause the effect of artificial gravity through centrifugal forces?
Yes, but the smaller the ship, the worse the Coriolis force will be. Imagine a 10m corridor with opposing gravity on each end, and no gravity in the middle. Travelling across would be extremely disorienting.
i think that would be so much fun!
Now I’m thinking about how much force you would need to be able to jump high enough to hit escape velocity on your side, do half a flip, and land on the other…
I did the calculation somewhere else in this thread, the outer walls of the spaceship (diameter 9m) would rotate with 24 km/h, so if you run really fast, you can outrun the rotation and start to float.
Edit: a healthy adult should be able to sprint 100 m in 15 seconds, which is precisely 24 km/h. Source.
Ooh! I didn’t think about outrunning the rotation! Seems like there’d be a curve to your speed there as each bit of acceleration would make you lighter, making it easier to run… Like the rig they used in the marvel movies to make Captain America outrun everyone.
lol you’re right actually :p