artificial gravity

"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in message
...
"Johnson.." wrote in
:

Hi Folks
Not sure if this is the right ng for posting an idea but here
goes.

I have been doing a little reading today about artificial gravity and
haven't seen magnetism mentioned at all. This may sound stupid but
couldn't the floor of a spacecraft be magnetized and the crew wear
suits that would be attracted to that floor? They could instead wear
wrist and ankle bands for more freedom of movement.

One problem with this is that you'd have to shield all the avionics in the
station from the magnetic field.

aren't spacecrafts are already shielded from electro-magnetic radiation?
same as magnetic shielding or not?

Another problem is that it doesn't address the principal reason you *want*
artificial gravity: to mitigate the risk of bone mass loss and heart
weakening that occurs during long periods of weightlessness.

and why not, it would be a constant pressure towards the floor, just like
here on earth.

--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
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"Johnson.." wrote in
:


"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in message
...
"Johnson.." wrote in
:

Hi Folks
Not sure if this is the right ng for posting an idea but here
goes.

I have been doing a little reading today about artificial gravity
and haven't seen magnetism mentioned at all. This may sound stupid
but couldn't the floor of a spacecraft be magnetized and the crew
wear suits that would be attracted to that floor? They could
instead wear wrist and ankle bands for more freedom of movement.

One problem with this is that you'd have to shield all the avionics
in the station from the magnetic field.

aren't spacecrafts are already shielded from electro-magnetic
radiation? same as magnetic shielding or not?

The outer hull of the spacecraft comprises a good portion of the shielding.
Introducing a magnetic field *inside* the spacecraft defeats that. And a
magnetic *field* is not the same thing as electromagnetic *radiation*.

Another problem is that it doesn't address the principal reason you
*want* artificial gravity: to mitigate the risk of bone mass loss and
heart weakening that occurs during long periods of weightlessness.

and why not, it would be a constant pressure towards the floor, just
like here on earth.

No, it's not the same. It's a concentrated force *through the shoes*.
Gravitational force acts on every atom of mass in the body, including the
heart and the bones - that's the difference.


--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

In article ,
"Johnson.." wrote:

I have been doing a little reading today about artificial gravity and
haven't seen magnetism mentioned at all. This may sound stupid but couldn't
the floor of a spacecraft be magnetized and the crew wear suits that would
be attracted to that floor? They could instead wear wrist and ankle bands
for more freedom of movement.

As you mention, it would take huge amounts of power. Simply spinning the
craft would produce gravity that does not consume any power at all. (but
you need something big enough that the required rotation rate is fairly
low)

Plus, you then have a strong magnetic field throughout the interior.
This can be quite bad for some equipment, even if it's a constant field
rather than an alternating one. And if you're doing it to prevent bone
loss, you'll want waits on the wrists, waist, shoulders, etc...magnetic
feet would pull you toward the floor, you want to be pushed onto the
floor. When you have a magnet strong enough to exert 1G of force on your
"weights" at waist height, think of what getting up after a fall would
be like. Or what the fall itself would be like. On earth you're far
enough from the center of gravity that the gradient as the gravity falls
off with distance is unnoticeable, this would not be the case here.

Also, even if it helps prevent softening of bones, it will do nothing to
your vascular system...your major bones might stay pretty strong, but
your heart will still be pumping your blood through microgravity.

--
Christopher James Huff
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG:
http://tag.povray.org/

Put electromagnets on the shoe bottoms. Maybe some sort of galvanic sensor
could detect leg muscular contraction and switch off the electromagnet so that
steps can be taken to walk.

Many good points raised that I didn't think about. Thanks Chris and Jorge.


"Christopher James Huff" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Johnson.." wrote:

I have been doing a little reading today about artificial gravity and
haven't seen magnetism mentioned at all. This may sound stupid but
couldn't
the floor of a spacecraft be magnetized and the crew wear suits that
would
be attracted to that floor? They could instead wear wrist and ankle
bands
for more freedom of movement.

As you mention, it would take huge amounts of power. Simply spinning the
craft would produce gravity that does not consume any power at all. (but
you need something big enough that the required rotation rate is fairly
low)

Plus, you then have a strong magnetic field throughout the interior.
This can be quite bad for some equipment, even if it's a constant field
rather than an alternating one. And if you're doing it to prevent bone
loss, you'll want waits on the wrists, waist, shoulders, etc...magnetic
feet would pull you toward the floor, you want to be pushed onto the
floor. When you have a magnet strong enough to exert 1G of force on your
"weights" at waist height, think of what getting up after a fall would
be like. Or what the fall itself would be like. On earth you're far
enough from the center of gravity that the gradient as the gravity falls
off with distance is unnoticeable, this would not be the case here.

Also, even if it helps prevent softening of bones, it will do nothing to
your vascular system...your major bones might stay pretty strong, but
your heart will still be pumping your blood through microgravity.

--
Christopher James Huff
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG:
http://tag.povray.org/

Well handled,
I remember once I had a PhD from Stanford who pestered me for two weeks
after someone at the switchboard told him I was responsible for the zero g
room at NASA. He was very sincere and sent emails and phone calls for two
weeks. His proposed experiment was pretty sophisticated and he claimed to
have research funding. I remained civil, explained the 'vomit comet,' and
parabolas. He saw through that ruse and pointed out that far from creating
zero g there is only the appearance of zero-g due to the plane and cargo
simply falling at the same rate. He was pleasant at first but eventually
became irate because I was clearly denying him access to a taxpayer provided
facility. I ended up forwarding him to a coworker who passed him on to PAO
for the procedure on filling out research request forms.Since then I've been
nagged with the feeling that he'll end up on a NASA oversight committeee and
take it out on manned flight.


"Johnson.." wrote in message
...
Many good points raised that I didn't think about. Thanks Chris and Jorge.


"Christopher James Huff" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Johnson.." wrote:

"Sh'maal" wrote


I remember once I had a PhD from Stanford who...

[snip]

pointed out that far from creating zero g there is only the
appearance of zero-g due to the plane and cargo simply falling
at the same rate.

Oh, my. Did he say what his PhD was in? Please don't say it was in
any flavor of physics, I couldn't stand it.

"Sh'maal" wrote in message
...
Well handled,
I remember once I had a PhD from Stanford who pestered me for two weeks
after someone at the switchboard told him I was responsible for the zero g
room at NASA. He was very sincere and sent emails and phone calls for two
weeks.

I'll have to bring this up with one of my close friends from Stanford.
Fortunately, not all Stanford graduates are as vacuum-headed as this PhD
sounds.