Weightlessness Takes Place

Weightlessness takes place in a free-fall motion. When in free-fall, only the force of gravity (downward force) act upon the object, the object’s weight doesn’t drop but instead, appears to lose as the object fall freely. Newton’s third law states that, ‘for every action, there is an opposite, but equal reaction. ’ Two forces are interacting within each other to equalize its effects. The principle in centripetal force and ballistic trajectory applies in explaining weightlessness / free-fall motion.

Effects of weightlessness include; nausea and disorientation, swelling of sinuses and shrinking of bones.

Introduction Weightlessness is experienced during free-fall. Weightlessness takes place when a person falls freely; when accelerating force is not acted upon. Examples of weightlessness include; flying in an airplane, use of a parachute and an orbital maneuver in a spacecraft. When in free-fall, only the gravity force acts upon on one’s body (non-contact force). The state of free-fall is common to amusement parks.

When the roller coaster suddenly dropped and one’s chair fall into the ground, the object accelerates at the same rate the chair do.

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Only the force of gravity act upon the two objects. Thus, one wouldn’t recognize his / her weight. Microgravity Newton’s third law states that, ‘For every action, there is an opposite, but equal reaction. ’ In a space shuttle, in order to move, one must push against something such, it can push against the object in opposite direction. Whenever two forces interact with each other, they exert forces.

When one sit on the sofa, the body exert a downward force on the sofa and the sofa exert an upward force onto your body.

Thus, two forces are interacting (action and reaction forces). Newton’s third law explains how the birds are able to fly. The birds fly through the use of their wings. Their wings pushes the air downwards, whilst, the air also push the bird upwards. The size of the force the bird exerted equals to the size of the force on the air. Microgravity is illustrated when one is riding an elevator (where cables break). Both the elevator and the person are travelling at the same speed.

The person does not losses his / her weight, this condition happens in a free-fall motion (Zorpette, 1999). Weightlessness can also be described by ballistic trajectory. It examples an object thrown in the air, at any point in the trajectory, is equal to the acceleration due to the force of gravity. Effects of Weightlessness Astronauts who experienced floating in space shuttle also experienced adverse effects of weightlessness. Astronauts experienced not only dizziness but also disoriented, swelling of sinuses and shrinking of legs.

In long run, astronaut’s bones become brittle and their muscles weaken. Disorientation is one of the effects of space motion sickness. Disorientation portrays a person drop on a roller coaster ride and / or drank person. It causes conflict in receiving information which the brain processed. The vestibular system (organs located in inner ear) does not worked in microgravity. The vestibular organs respond on the pull of the gravity, in which, doesn’t recognized in outer space. Thus, results disorientation. Swelling of sinuses adds up to astronaut’s disorientation and nausea.

In earth, the gravity pulls one’s blood into its legs, while in space, the blood shifts from one’s legs into chest and head. Such, causes swelling of sinuses, shrinking of size of the legs, and increased size of chest. In addition, increased blood in the chest increases pumps with each beat. The longer the astronauts stay in space, the higher the probability his / her muscles weaken. The mass of the astronaut’s muscles decreases and the muscle fibers shrink. Astronauts bones in space in not needed to support their body. Bones in thighs and lower back are less used in space than in Earth.

Thus, the size and mass of theses bones depreciate, making the astronaut’s bones weak and brittle (Freudenrich, 2007). Conclusion Weightlessness focuses on gas laws, atmospheric science, centripetal force, ballistic trajectory, space motion sickness and free-fall concepts that make this subject matter useful in studies. Scientist, researchers, physicist and astronauts scrutinize these concepts in order to learn advanced research and development in science, develop recent technologies and further explore beyond modern science.

The research paper is centered on the countermeasures on space motion sickness; how to counter the effect of weightlessness in space. Such, further studies / research on weightlessness would supplement further knowledge and thoughts on weightlessness.

Reference

1. Freudenrich, Craig C. , Ph. D. (2007). Encountering Microgravity. How Weightlessness Works. Retrieved September 11, 2007 from .
2. Zorpette, Glenn. (1999). A Taste of Weightlessness. Scientific American 281 no5 26 N: The H. W. Wilson Company / Wilson Web, pp. 1-2.