Re: Science is killing Science Fiction

On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:23:04 GMT, throopw@xxxxxxxxx (Wayne Throop)
wrote:

>:: At 3g, a couple hundred miles would do fine, I think.
>
>: Orbital velocity in 200 miles is almost 8 gees. a = v^2/2d
>
>Five is "a couple", right?
>
>Anyways... the number I had in mind was 250 miles, and I dropped
>a binary order of magnitude. Sigh.
>
>But y'know... for orbital velocity a 1km long cannon implies a couple
>thousand gs for a few ten-thousandths of a second (unless I've dropped
>some more binary and/or decimal zeros around here somewhere). I almost
>wonder if it could be survived with total immersion... not that I would
>buy the first few tickets, mind you.
>
>Hrm. Shock waves in the fluid. Hrm.
>

Given that the human body has some areas that have to remain at least
partly air-filled in order to operate, I doubt that 2000 G's would be
survivable without a major redesigning of the human body. For
example, the heart has to have room to expand and contract in order to
pump blood. If the capsule surrounding it fills up with liquid, the
result is congestive heart failure. Relatively mundane
decelerations, such as in car accidents, can cause potentially-fatal
injuries such as concussions or having your aorta rip loose.

--
John F. Eldredge -- john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
.

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