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Blogging a Ride on the 'Vomit Comet'
An anonymous reader writes "Four Duke engineering students have launched a weblog
to document their preparations and impending ride on NASA's 'vomit comet.' The students will study the effects of microgravity on the shapes of cells and the positions of their organelles, such as the nucleus. The schedule is subject to change, but the students expect to take their 12,000 foot plunges Monday in NASA's KC-135A. They plan to provide photos and video."
I would like to shake the hand of the person that came up with the name "Vomit Comet".
[simpsons]
Best...name...ever.
[/simpsons]
The preceding message was based on actual events. Only the names, locations and events have been changed.
Put the plane into a dive accellerating at g. Effectively the occupants are in free fall but it feels like there no gravity.
> 12,000 foot plunges
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:)
s = ut + 1/2 a * t * t;
with a vertical velocity of 0 from the dive
that makes it
t* t = 819.something
makes it less than 30 seconds of no gravity ??
And add the final deceleration when g-forces really pull you down ?
*vomit*
throwing up and seeing it form a perfect sphere of liquid puke (cohesion in no gravity should be strong enough) is worth the trip.. especially if you blow it towards someone else
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
Anything in free-fall is effectively at zero gravity. The plane climbs to a high altitude and goes into a dive.
The ISS is at an altitude of about 370km. With Earth having a diameter of 6000km and using Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, the gravity on the space station should be 88% of what it is on earth's suface. (6000/6370)^2.
The reason it is a zero gravity environment is because it is orbiting the Earth. That means it is effectively in freefall, always falling towards the Earth, but it has enough sideways motion that it keeps falling around the planet.
Jason
ProfQuotes
Quite a few of the scenes in Apollo 13 were filmed onboard the KC-135, which is why the weightless "effects" look so good -- they're real.
Nothing but the finest in meaningless drivel
Sounds like a pastry or something. Better look it up ...
organelle n.
A differentiated structure within a cell, such as a mitochondrion, vacuole, or chloroplast, that performs a specific function.
Great, that sure clears things up! The submitter should have said mitochondrion, vacuole, or chloroplast in the first place though ...
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
Shape of the cells:
Flattened, fractal-shaped
Position of nucleus:
Roof, wall, the face of co-researcher 2
Test setup:
o Zero gravity
o Container with missing lid
Test verification result:
No verification was possible, container broken on impact with forehead of co-researcher 1 after container was accellerated by a furious co-researcher 2
Step 1: Obtain NASA Grant ......
Step 2:
Step 3: Vomit!
Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
If I'm not mistaken, the vomiting happens at the bottom of the arc. As such, you probably won't get to see video of zero-gravity vomit formations (hopefully to classical music).... Just some dudes sitting on the floor throwing up.
It was similar shenanigans which saw Barry Humphries (AKA Dame Edna Everage) banned as a teenager for life from an Australian airline - a ban which remained throughout his stardom and ended only with the closure of the airline.
His notorious "sick bag" prank involved carrying a tin of condensed soup onto an aircraft, which he would then surreptitiously emptied into an air-sickness bag. At an appropriate juncture, he would walk up and down the aisle pretending to vomit very loudly and violently into the bag. Then, he would proceed to eat the contents to the horror of the passengers and crew, many of whom would start vomiting (for real) as a result. Best...Prank...Ever!
Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) is booking seats for Vomit-Comet-like weightless flights. The 'ZERO-G Experience' has 20 parabolas--made up of Martian (1/3 gravity), lunar (1/6 gravity) and zero gravity parabolas--and costs $2,950 per seat. Peter Diamandis (founder of the Ansari X Prize) is the CEO.
Hey people, how can 30 seconds of flakey microgravity compare with *WEEKS* of flakey microgravity on board the ISS? Science. Humph. Just more propaganda for elitist crap universities (versus the poor good ones). (ex Bristol UK grad in chemistry)
NASA already provides tons of photographs of previous experiments
http://zerog.jsc.nasa.gov/studentmain.html
I rode the Vomit Comit back in 1987, as a research participant in Space Adaptation Syndrome (i.e. zero-g motion sickness) studies at the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab at Brandeis University. We did 2 or 3 days worth of flights, essentially a 2-mile high roller coaster (40 or so 10,000-foot parabolae with 30 seconds of zero-g at the top of each parabola) over the Gulf of Mexico, and it was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. While I didn't get to do the zero-g acrobatics you've seen on TV or in "Apollo 13" (I was doing baseline susceptibility studies, and was seated), I had the fun experience of being hit while blindfolded by a floating teddy bear in a space suit. While I never got to go back (scheduling problems, an engine failure on the ground prior to a flight, etc.), I wouldn't have missed it for the world. And while I only vomited once (some professional researchers were so susceptible that they had to sit out the second and third days to recover), I will tell you that the smell of a padded aircraft cabin with poor ventilation after one of those flights was...powerful. {Professor Jonathan Ezor, Touro Law Center}