Artificial gravity through air flow

[Divides the Waters]

That might be a better analogy, except that I was trying to go for people who are ostensibly in the same business. Anyway, point taken, back on topic....

[myrthman]

I couldn't put either Oxygen or The Fifth Man down. If I were to guess at God's hand on these authors' lives, I would say he called and gifted them to be writers long before he provided them with skills and jobs as physicists.

The stories in these books would be solid and enjoyable even if they took place in a drab living room instead of a space ship. The science just enhanced the storytelling for me, providing a VERY realistic backdrop for one heckuva drama with a spiritual journey for at least two of the main characters. I can see why the Christy award was won.

Let us know what you think once you've read them.

[Spokane Flyboy]

I actually had a though to this thread the other day. With all the new, and crazy materials being developed even now, perhaps a sort of body hugging magnetic suit paired with a magnetic floor, shielded like speakers are to prevent the the same magnet in the floor from pulling you to the ceiling on the deck below.

[Therin]

Yeah, a while ago I came up with pretty much the same idea: a suit with iron threaded throughout it and magnets on the floor. Things that aren't magnetic would still float, which is advantageuos for moving heavy items (for magnetic ones, the floor could be turned off), but the suit might not only counter atrophy, but a sort of "down" as well.

[scintor]

It's easier to put the magnets in the suit and the metal in the floor by the way.

Scincerely,

[e-mail]

[Therin]

Yeah, but then the magnets might mess with the electric equipment, whereas on the floor they'd be safely away from the equipment. Also, if the suits were magnetic all the people would be flying into each other and if the walls were magnetic the whole thing wouldn't work.

But yes, it is easier to make magnetic suits than to make all floors magnetic.

[jdogink]

I'm going to jump in late on this. I was actually thinking of this topic last week. I am writing a short story (scifi/humor) and it involves a resort on the moon. But I was thinking of the images we have of the astronauts doing their moon walks. Would people, inside a structure, with no suit on, hop around like that on the moon? They look as tho they are floating almost, in those old videos, like if they jumped too strongly, they'd fly off the face of the moon. I was wondering, is that partly because they were in those huge puffed up suits, and also the footage is old, so the frames might not be timed properly? Because, in my story, this resort is a "prime vacation spot", but would it be enjoyable for people indoors under those gravitational conditions? (And if not, would there have to be some sort of "vacuum floor" or "velcro floor" or something. Also, I assume the indoors would be pressurized, so how would the oxygen and pressure in doors affect how people walk, jump, eat a nice steak dinner, etc.? I'm no scientist. I should probably spend some time on google... But, if any of you have thoughts about it, it might save me a little time. (Of course, in Star Trek they never explain how gravity works on the ship, we just take it for granted.)

[torainfor]

The moon would be easier. The gravity's there, you just have to magnify it--wear weighted suits, perhaps. Yeah, those pictures were real. The moon only has 1/6 the gravity Earth does.

[scintor]

Dec 28, 2008 21:47:59 GMT -5 jdogink said:

I'm going to jump in late on this. I was actually thinking of this topic last week. I am writing a short story (scifi/humor) and it involves a resort on the moon. But I was thinking of the images we have of the astronauts doing their moon walks. Would people, inside a structure, with no suit on, hop around like that on the moon? They look as tho they are floating almost, in those old videos, like if they jumped too strongly, they'd fly off the face of the moon. I was wondering, is that partly because they were in those huge puffed up suits, and also the footage is old, so the frames might not be timed properly? Because, in my story, this resort is a "prime vacation spot", but would it be enjoyable for people indoors under those gravitational conditions? (And if not, would there have to be some sort of "vacuum floor" or "velcro floor" or something. Also, I assume the indoors would be pressurized, so how would the oxygen and pressure in doors affect how people walk, jump, eat a nice steak dinner, etc.? I'm no scientist. I should probably spend some time on google... But, if any of you have thoughts about it, it might save me a little time. (Of course, in Star Trek they never explain how gravity works on the ship, we just take it for granted.)

It took them a while on the first moonwalk to figure out how to walk in a reasonable manner, and they fell down a lot. The finally settled on what I believe they called the "bunny hop," which was sort of a half skip to be able to move quickly while maintaining control.

Jumping seems easier, but can be more difficult. You can jump much higher and normal falls aren't as bad, but it is easy to get yourself in trouble. You can jump much higher and seem to be in slow motion, but rotational forces work at the same speed as Earth. This means it's easy to get out of control in a long jump because there is more time for any error to compound itself, which can end in a bad landing.

As for eating a good dinner, it would seem much the same, except nothing sticks to the table as well. Cutting you steak could easily send your plate sliding across the table if you are not careful. Drinking would be really different. Closed containers would be the rule because all splashes would be six times as high. Pouring a drink would be out of the question. Knocking things over would be really easy. I would think the magnetic utinsils, and dishes, salt and prpper shakers, etc. would be popular. This would also make many parts of cooking quite different. Beating an egg would be a bit of a challenge, much less stirring the pot.

Just some ideas.

Scincerely,

[e-mail]

[jdogink]

Thanks for the ideas, scintor! I may borrow the magnetic idea, because I plan to have a dinner scene. This thread did inspire me to research (imagine that) moon colonization today. This should help my story to seem more plausible and accurate, although, it is scifi/humor which, to me, equals silly. So, having my characters hop around might add to the overall silliness that I am going for. I also searched for novels set on the moon. Ben Bova wrote one titled Moonrise. Ever heard of it? I confess, I have not read as much scifi as I probably should, given the genre in which I am trying to write. However, I do have a preference for "soft/social" science fiction and silly scifi satires. I prefer to leave that extremely techie hard science fiction stuff to the experts.

[metalikhan]

I read through early posts on this thread. Some kinks might need worked out, but that's what extrapolators do, right?

Clean rooms for building Class 3 microcircuit electronics often use a positive air flow system for climate control. They're similar to what you describe, scintor — perforated ceilings and floors, directional air flow. Although these are not powerful enough to produce artificial gravity, you can feel a breeze when you go through the door; and people with sensitivities (such as arthritics or folks with ear or sinus problems) can sometimes feel a slight difference in air pressure, a little like entering a room-size change in barometric pressure. The body adjusts fairly quickly but you can feel it when someone opens or closes the door. As for noise, if you hear it at all, it's most like hearing the air passing through your vents when your furnace or central air kicks on. Machinery to create the airflow is far enough removed (and in its own room) that it can't be heard unless something is very badly wrong.

[Divides the Waters]

I'm going to have to do some thinking on this subject. I've been writing about a society that is pretty advanced, but never went through an industrial revolution. Things are still pretty much handmade through artisan's guilds, etc. There is space travel (of a sort, though not as we know it), so I will have to see whether I can retcon an explanation for how they deal with the gravity situation given the restrictions I have placed on myself.

[metalikhan]

Divides, have you checked out any reprints of old "technology" books? I'm talking about how people made things prior to the industial revolution -- hand-made machinery and such. Even lathes and mills used to be treadle-powered; and hand-scraping metal is considered a lost art (although the information how to do it is available). Even further back, there were "lathes" for turning wood made by arranging ropes on somewhat springy tree branches.

[marksman]

I have read through all of the posts, and thought of an alternative based on Einstein's Unified Field Theory. If electricity, magnetism, and gravity are three forms of the same energy, then generating pro-gravity and anti-gravity are theoretically possible. Anti-gravity could be used to propel the spacecraft, while pro-gravity is used inside the spacecraft for the benefit of its occupants. Just a thought, before I get beat up for my comment.

[torainfor]

Show off!