The speed of life

In spacetime, theoretically, you could go as fast as you wish, and not be affected by gravitational forces like you would on Earth. obviously though, there is a threshold in acceleration, as one moved to lightspeed, ones mass would double, and continue to double every light second because you do not have infinite energy.

 

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I think this is probably not the case. As I understand it people have survived brief periods of 20g - 30g in centrifuge tests. In the rocket sled tests in the 1950s experimenter John Stapp experienced 46.2g, while a race car driver, David Purley, survived a crash which subjected him to 179.8g.

 

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What the question really should be is how long term acceleration affects the human body.
Say at one point we are able to reach speeds up to 90% the speed of light. To get there we will have to accelerate slowly, perhaps so that the humans will be exposed to 1G by forward motion continuesly.

 

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Enmos:

In my younger years, i hypothesized something VERY VERY similar to what you said here:

''What the question really should be is how long term acceleration affects the human body.''
\
Would you like to know my theory?

 

Sure

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I have no idea how it would affect the body, I can only imagine that it wouldn't be very good.

 

you don't know what you're talking about.

 

Hi...


The leading theory of psychophysics today, is that ''gravity'' unravels the configurations of the psyche. In other words: Consciousness is caused by gravity.


If one travels fast enough, gravity can become negligable. Therego, my theory would suggest that at fast enough speeds, consciousness would fail.

 

Ignore acceleration for present since in theory at 1G constant acceleration, you could reach light speed in under a year.

Back to the original post. As you get closer to light speed, even at a mere 1G acceleration, your atomic structure will effectively lose energy in the direction of travel and so electron rotation around the nucleus will be in ever smaller orbits. At a set point, electrons will no longer possess the energy they need to the complete chemical reactions for life.

If it were possible to get very close to the speed of light, say a thousand mph, then for what of a better term, even atoms will start to flatten out in the direction of travel as their speed is crushed against the light barrier, forcing them to move ever slower in the direction of travel.

 

Reiku. How does this work when an astronaut experiences genuine weightlessness from absence of gravity on the way to the Moon and back?

 

But, what about astronauts ? They don't experience gravity.. :shrug:

 

Oh lol you beat me to it.

 

Reiku. As to long term acceleration, we know we are slightly shorter at the end of the day than at the beginning because of our weight making everything settle. More weight (due to gravity) would make everything settle more, would put more strain on the heart and on all the joints. Possibly it might work better if we were immersed in a gel of some kind?

 

Enmos. Astronauts orbiting the Earth experience gravity but less of it. They are in freefall, like being in a lift which is falling free and falls faster than you are falling. You need to get some distance away from the Earth to experience a real gravity-free environment.

 

Reiku. The real problem with long missions, even Mars with our present level of technology where people could be in space for a total of two years is muscle wastage and more importantly, radiation. Unless we can insulate the capsule sufficiently, over time the astronauts will build up radiation damage in their bodies and could end up getting cancers some years after they return to Earth.

 

True, but it's negligible.. like in your example.
Anyway, if you are in free fall you are weightless, experiencing 0 G's.

 

Astronauts follow geodesic lines... that is, they follow orbital paths, and they are in a state of free fall...


BUT


why should i even continue here? (NOT DIRECTED AT YOU)

 

As for free-fall, they experience about 1/19 of what Earth comprises.

 

What about the astronauts that went to the moon and back ?

 

My guess is that at some point between moon and Earth were F=m1m2/r equaled 0 they felt no micro gravity at all.

 

You said this in relation to my post on John Stapp experiencing 46.2g, and race car driver, David Purley, surviving a crash which subjected him to 179.8g. Can you explain why you feel I don't know what I am talking about? I mean it seems a bit rude to blurt that out without any explanation. I provided a link in my original post for the second example, Dave Purley. Here is a link for the first example, John Stapp.
I do hope you will explain why you think I don't know what I am talking about, or better yet consider apologising.