I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with this. I know that rotational gravity is real. I’ve been on a tilt-a-whirl, I just don’t fully understand WHY it works.
Here is a scenario to illustrate what I mean: I am an astronaut inside a “hollow donut” type ship like in 2001. There is no air, we are in space. No relative gravity whatsoever from anything else. I am inside the ship, it is not moving or spinning and I am not close to the hull or anything.
From what I understand if the ship begins to “spin” to induce the artificial gravity effect, I will be affected by it and pushed out toward the outer wall or hull.
Why? What is ACTING on me. I know it might sound like a weird question. I love science and am convinced by it 100% I just feel like I don’t get what exactly is going on.
In: Physics
Nothing is acting on you, at first. If the ship begins to spin, but you aren’t touching the walls, it will spin without you. This will look very upsetting to anyone standing on the inner walls, and you’ll see them whirling around you. Eventually, the ships’s air will start to spin with the ship, and the air will eventually push you into the wall/floor. This might hurt, depending on how fast the spin is.
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