after the rocket leaves the launching pad, the astronauts feel 3g or 4g gravitational force in the middle of dense atmosphere, why?
2007-04-26 06:05:50 · 7 answers · asked by Prakasa R 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The increase in g is due to the increase in acceleration. The acceleration is so great the rocket pushes people forward, while a person wants to continue moving at their initial velocity (inertia). Therefore the rocket is constanly pushing you forward, which is a force that is acting against your inertia, therefore pressing you into your seat even more.
2007-04-26 06:10:31 · answer #1 · answered by jcann17 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Space Shuttle fully fueled including the solid rocket bootsers weighs in about 4 million pounds.
Remember gravity wants to keep you down on the ground and the thrust wants to propell you upwards, The G force the astronauts feel comes from the thrust of the rockets as they have to lift the Shuttle into orbit. As the Shuttle get further from the Earth, gravity is less and the G forces the astronauts feel get less and less until there is little or no G force left.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. - Newton
2007-04-26 06:26:37 · answer #2 · answered by chefantwon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The forces are not due to the atmosphere but due to the thrust applied by the engines and the acceleration against the earth's gravity. Once the rocket reaches the desired height, the engines are switched off or smaller engines are used and thus the g forces are lesser.
2007-04-26 06:17:12 · answer #3 · answered by Swamy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know what the atmosphere has to do with it.
The astronauts feel a force during acceleration that is only partly "gravitational". They feel 1g from gravity just like everybody else near the surface of the earth, and then they feel additional force due to the accelleration of their ship.
Just like you feel a press of your body against the seat when the car you are in surges forward, the astronauts feel a force opposite the direction of accelleration.
The force is proportional to the accelleration (F=ma) means that the force is equal to the mass times the accelleration.
2007-04-26 06:14:29 · answer #4 · answered by enginerd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has nothing to do with the atmosphere. The force the astronauts feel is in reaction to the thrust from the engines. They would feel the same force when accelerating in a vacuum.
2007-04-26 06:10:09 · answer #5 · answered by JLynes 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, the atmosphere doesn't have anything to do wth it.
The reasion for that hig-g force is that the rockets accelerate very fast. Remember, acceleration feels just like gravity--in eithr case there's a force pushing/pulling on you.
The reason that the acceleration is so high is that to reach orbit, rocets have to reach a speed of 5 miles per second--17,500 miles per hour. And--they have to expend fulel to hold themselves up until they do reach that speed. The longer it takes too get up to orbital velocity, the more fuel is wasted just holding the rocket up. So they accelerate as fast as possible--or they'd waste so much fuel they'd never be able to reach orbit at all.
2007-04-26 06:19:41 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not the atmosphere. Only when experiencing thrust from the rockets.
The thrust pushes them backwards and makes them seem 3 or 4 times heavier than normal. (3 or 4 x earth's gravity)
When they reach the desired height and speed, they enter orbit, the engines shut down and they become seemingly weightless.
They are actually in freefall back to earth but, the curvature of the earth is falling away from them at the same rate of curvature as their fall.
When you really accelerate away from a standstill in your car,
you feel yourself pushed backwards into your seat..same effect.
2007-04-26 06:18:18 · answer #7 · answered by Norrie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋