Space scientist like Sunitha Willaims and others when we saw in the TV they are floating inside the aircraft. As my knowledge, We can float only in the vacuum where we have no body weight . But, if there is a vacuum. how could they breath?
2007-07-31 04:00:29 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The cabin is pressurized and oxygen levels are maintained inside the cabin. They "float" because they have escaped earth's gravitational pull.
2007-07-31 04:03:35 · answer #1 · answered by Scotty Doesnt Know 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Moon's surface has no atmosphere: it is a vacuum and yet there is gravity. So, the vacuum is not the reason they float.
The have not "escaped" Earth's gravity. In fact, the shuttle orbits close enough that it is still subject to 90% of Earth's surface gravity.
The shuttle is "falling" around Earth, in its orbit. The astronauts and everything inside is falling at exactly the same rate. Therefore, there is no pressure between the "walls" (or floor or ceiling or seat or...) of the shuttle and the astronauts, therefore they do not feel any weight.
On Earth, we are attracted towards the centre of the planet and we would fall there, if the ground was not in the way to stop us. The ground is NOT falling towards the centre: therefore we feel the push of the ground keeping us from falling to the centre = weight.
Objects (and astronauts) still have mass. If an astronaut wants to push herself towards the other end of the shuttle, she has to push herself from one wall. Her acceleration will depend on the force she uses and her mass:
F = m a
therefore:
a = F/m
Once she gets to the other wall, she must use as much force to stop herself (otherwise she crashes into the wall -- weightless or not, if you crash fast enough into something, you can hurt yourself).
It takes a lot less force to push a pencil to the other end than to push a whole astronaut (the pencil has less mass). Or, with the same force, you can push the pencil much faster.
It's all fun until someone puts out an eye...
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Astronauts are surrounded by air. When their diaphragm (muscle under the lungs, inside the thorax) pulls down, it creates a relative vacuum inside the lungs and the pressurised air in the shuttle rushes into the lungs. When the diaphragm pushes up, the air is expelled.
This is exactly how we breathe on Earth.
2007-07-31 04:14:03 · answer #2 · answered by Raymond 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Air is created by machinery on the shuttle for the astronauts to breathe. They do it in exactly the same way we do it on Earth. The floating is not due to a vacuum (there are no true vacuums) but rather from the continous free fall the astronauts are undergoing.
2007-07-31 09:27:07 · answer #3 · answered by cvtman2003 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The space shuttle has a pressurized cabin just like an airliner, so the crew can breathe normally. The appearance of "floating" in the air has nothing to do with air pressure of vacuum.
The crew experiences "zero-G" or a sensation of "no gravity" when the shuttle is in orbit because gravitational forces act on all objects equally.
2007-07-31 04:25:31 · answer #4 · answered by aviophage 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Pretend you're in an elevator, and the cable snaps.
You have air, but you start to float - because you're falling, and you're falling at the same speed as the elevator around you. Well, the shuttle is the same thing - to be weightless, in other words, to fall - doesn't matter if it's in air or in a vacuum.
So, they have pressure suits outside the shuttle, and a sealed cabin within, but they're all still *falling* - which makes them weightless.
2007-07-31 04:34:14 · answer #5 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Therer is a special room inside the shuttle which makes oxygen (like in the space station).....so they can breath....even if there is a vacuum, we can stay on the ground... because we stay on the ground due to gravity and not due to the presence of air.
2007-07-31 04:54:33 · answer #6 · answered by sportyfun 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are confusing vacuum with weightlessness. There is air inside the shuttle, but they are weightless because the shuttle is freely orbiting in space.
2007-07-31 04:25:36 · answer #7 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The shuttle is, of course, pressurized with air. Fans are needed to circulate the air so that you don't get a buildup of CO2 around a person's head. Since the spacecraft, its air, and its occupants are all in free fall, you won't get air circulation arising out of temperature differences.
2007-07-31 04:08:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
you're right...they can breath inside the Shuttle because there is an atmosphere inside...the Shuttle is airtight.......and you don't need to be in vacuum to be weightless, just up in space.....
2007-07-31 04:04:34 · answer #9 · answered by yankee_sailor 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
yes they are "in a vacuum"......"they" meaning "the shuttle". its pressurized and yeah....lol.
2007-08-01 04:29:32 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋