why do not all the fluids in astronauts bodies start going in wrong directions when they are in 0 gravity?
In: Physics
You actually aren’t far wrong. Not blood which is pumped by the heart, or digestive stuff which is moved by muscle contractions (peristalsis), but fluid does actual redistribute in astronauts bodies. Everything flows up. Their faces get puffy, sinuses congested, they can get leg cramps, and supposedly it’s not great for, ah, libido. (Not that anyone has had sex in space.)
But those effects are temporary, after you’re up for a while things redistribute more normally.
Gravity pulls fluids down. Your body is designed to push them back up.
When there is no gravity, your body still keeps pushing things up.
But now, since nothing is pulling it down, you get a puffed up upper body.
The fluid in your body is not moved in your body by gravity but by pressure from muscles.
You can survive to stand and laying down so if the direction of gravity was very important you should die but you don’t.
You survive upside down and even dring and eat food. But you will notice that gravity has some effect in increasing the blood pressure in your head. So you are ok for a short time but a long time is not good for you.
So if you can at least for a short time survive with gravity in the opened direction no gravity should not have a direct effect large effect in direction fluids move.
Your heart has four one-way valves between the chambers and blood outflow. Urine has a pressure gradient from the kidneys to the bladder. I believe that astronauts can get puffy eyelids and such due to the lack of gravity on lymphatic drainage.
Well, speaking of blood as it is one of those fluids that flow, it’s because the heart exerts pressure.
There really arent any fluids in the body that rely on gravity to disperse.
According to CNN “A study of 11 healthy astronauts onboard the International Space Station for six-month missions has revealed a new risk of long-term spaceflight.
Six of the astronauts experienced stagnant or reverse blood flow, one had a blood clot and another was found to have a potential partial blood clot.”
This means that in their time is space, some people do have cardiovascular issues in space. No organisms on Earth were ever meant to go to space so our bodies are not designed for Zero-G.
This poses some health risks such as blood clots, blurry vision, and bones/muscles disintegrating due to lack of usage (the main limiting factor in length of time in space).
In order to combat this NASA has all astronauts train before, during, and after their time is space. They also have astronauts eat foods to make sure there hearts stay strong enough to prevent stagnant/reversed blood flow.
ELI5 Version: They do is some cases because without gravity our muscles begin to weaken making blood slow down and possibly even stop moving. Once it stops moving all it takes is a small amount of force in a direction to make it go backwards.
If you need me to elaborate on anything feel free to ask. 🙂
Here is the link: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/15/health/astronaut-blood-flow-clot-scn-trnd/index.html
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