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Re: Re; centrifugal force, was Banked road



At 22:26 06/11/01 -0500, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:
...
But why should the same be true for somebody who is not in contact
with the rigid structure of the rotating pipe? An object half way between
the axis and the wall will not experience any radial pull toward the
nearest wall. Is it correct to say that artificial gravity exists only for
objects which are forced to rotate together with the pipe (like in a
centrifuge), it does not exist for all objects inside a rotating empty pipe?
Ludwik Kowalski

Indeed... and it's a nice problem to work out the trajectory of a
projectile in this environment!

I was showing my class some minutes from the space station sequence in 2001
Space Odyssey the other day. One can get estimates on rotational period and
diameter and check if they got it right to have something like earth
gravity inside... they did, more or less. It's also interesting to
speculate on what it's like to walk along the circumference: you feel as if
walking on a horizontal surface, while visual information says you're
walking uphill. As for the elevator ride from the hub to the rim...

Mark


Mark Sylvester
UWCAd
Duino Trieste Italy