I was watching a cartoon with a cousin of mine and one of the characters was training in gravity like 20g's. I know that if any human was placed in that envoirment, they would more than likely perish since the weight of the their body would smoother them. But it raises an interesting thought for me.
Supposing someone did invent a gravity chamber and you could adjust the gravity say to 1.2 or 1.5g's. Would excercising in that envoirment prove more detrimental than beneficial? I am guessing that if someone worked out regularly in that sort of envoirment, would maintain good health such as good weight, good bp, etc....
Also, I would think that after returning to normal gravity, the extra strength gained, would quickly vanish since the person would not be using the muscles as much. Just like how astronauts much work out harder in space to preven muscle loss.
Please share all your comments on this topic, I am very interested in it, and wish to learn more about it.
Thanks.
Nick
Jul 13, '02
Hmmmm.....
This is all really too technical for my little ol brain, but part of exercising is propelling your own body weight, and I just don't see the benefit if your body weight is decreased.
I know water aerobics are beneficial, because while they increase resistance, they decrease pain and damage to the joints of the body. But without gravity, where is the resistance?
Again, my little brain does not comprehend this type of information well. But Mario will have a field day with this question~!
MARIO??????
Heather
Jul 13, '02
No No No lol.
I was talking about if someone built a gravity chamber that would increase the gravity in the chamber. 1g is normal gravity, 1.2g would be equal to being 20% heavier for EVERYTHING from a paperclip to ourselves.
Nick
Jul 13, '02
Ahhhhh... I see.
So then, wouldn't it be like exercising in water? The resistance would be increased.
ACK! There's smoke coming out of my ears!
Heather
Jul 13, '02
Yeah increased resistance.
Lets say you were working out in 2g's (easily numbers lol). A normally weighing person at 150 pounds (again easy numbers for me lol) would weigh 300 pounds in 2g's. Everything you do would become excercise since every part of your body would weigh twice as much.
Nick
Jul 13, '02
BUT if the gravity was reduced to 0.5g, then we would weigh half as much. And the muscle strength we have now would literally make us jump with every step we take in 0.5g. Sitting here on earth, we are in 1g.
Nick
Jul 13, '02
Also unlike water, this envoirment is exerting constant pressure/force on to you. Where-as water is only providing resistance when you are swimming or do any other activity.
Nick
Jul 13, '02
SO if water only provides resistance when you move, but in higher gravity that resistance is CONSTANT, then how high of gravity could you be in before the constant presure caused you to implode (or explode?)
Heather
Jul 13, '02
I tend to think you are right Nick. But I wonder what the added pressure would do on our organs. Certainly they would be stressed more, and probably in ways that they are not designed to handle the added stress???
I CANT TAKE ALL THIS PRESSURE on my little brain!!! Helllllp!
Jul 13, '02
Well Heather, I do not know the pressure at which that damage would occur. MY guess is that the person would merely be crushed as though they were run over with a steam roller used on paving highways.
Agnus, again my theory would be that we could handle it to a point. Fighter-pilots routinely endure added g-forces and must wear what is called a g-suit which inflates around the legs to force blood back up into the brain. I am fairly sure that a good number of people can endure say 1.2g without serious health risk. But I certainly doubt that 2g would be feisible without working up to slowly to build your strength.
Think of this, take your body weight and first multiply it by 1.2, that is how much you would weigh in 1.2g. Then multiple your weight by 2, and that is of course how much you would weight in 2g. I do not know about yall, but I could hardly (if at all) move if I weigh twice what I weigh now.
Nick
Jul 13, '02
Shouldn't you be asking a physicist about this?
Jul 13, '02
Well, they would also have to have medical knowledge of human anatomy as well. So why not start with a doctor/nurse?
Nick
Jul 13, '02
Hi Nutty Poster -
First off, it's relatively easy to increase the force of gravity. At least the EFFECTS of the force of gravity (can you tell that physics is one of the things I've majored in over the years?) That would be a centrifuge. NASA and some other places have been working with people in centrifuge for quite some time. Angular velocity (actually not momentum) in a centrifuge sort of mirrors the effects of gravity,
As far as reducing the effects of gravity, the only way, so far, is on the parabolic flights that the "vomit comet" makes. NASA has a couple of big ol' planes that they've stripped down to padded walls on the inside that they use to simulate weightlessness, perhaps even reduced weight, I don't know that much about it.
The plane climbs steeply until it reaches whatever height it reaches. Then it goes over the top like a rollercoaster, then it goes into a powered drive. As the plane goes over the top of the parabola, the effect of gravity is lessened. On the dive down, there are 30-40 seconds of weightlessness.
I've known people who have participated in this - it's not JUST open to NASA people. I went to Purdue, which has a major aerospace department, and Purdue students ride on the vomit comet from time to time for their experiments. I think it's open to other schools as well. But anyway, I've never been on it... I don't think I'd survive the climbing part of the parabola. I've been told the plane is at a 50 degree attitude (FIFTY DEGREE!!!!).
I just about stroke out when taking off on an American Airlines jet! I Hate that feeling of climbing sharply and believe me I've NEVER been in an airplane 50 degrees nose-high!!!!!!!!
Another VERY unpleasant sounding aspect would be the less than 10 seconds during which you go from 1.8 to ZERO g's. Can you say Urrrrrrppp. Well (light bulb goes on!) I'll bet that's why they call it "vomit comet!"
I work with a lady now who has ridden this several times (doing research for NASA) and said that they do it 32 times per trip! So if you are so miserable you want to die on the first parabola, you know that you have to survive 31 more of them. No getting off.
Hope this helps.
Love
Dennie
Jul 13, '02Joined: Oct '00; Posts: 10,236; Likes: 64Hmmmm.....
Jul 13, '02Joined: Apr '02; Posts: 4,738; Likes: 104Shouldn't you be asking a physicist about this?
