There is no air resistance, I get that. And the space craft/ISS is in orbit, I *kind* of get that. But if astronauts still experience acceleration in space, why do they not experience deceleration when they are no longer getting “pulled” by their vehicle?
BONUS QUESTION: at what point does acceleration forces stop? A space ship accelerates in space, all crew are pushed back into their seats, but when does that feeling dissipate if they remain at that new speed?
In: Physics
Because they’re travelling at the same speed as the vehicle.
> why do they not experience deceleration when they are no longer getting “pulled” by their vehicle?
Acceleration requires a force. There’s no force acting on them that would slow them down, so they don’t slow down. Objects in motion remain in motion unless an unbalanced force acts upon them.
> A space ship accelerates in space, all crew are pushed back into their seats, but when does that feeling dissipate if they remain at that new speed?
At the point that the ship stops accelerating
It’s impossible to detect your own velocity without a reference point to compare to, because velocity itself doesn’t produce a force, acceleration does. That’s why it was such a debate about whether the Earth was moving around the Sun or not, people really thought we’d be able to tell if the Earth was moving that fast. But you can’t. You are currently travelling at around 30 km/s, but you feel like you’re motionless, because the Earth isn’t accelerating.
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