birds in space.. artificial gravity?

[ColJack]

so I'm watching something on telly about mars and growing seeds and livestock in space and apparently the russians have taken quail chicks into space and they wouldn't grab onto anything and just kind of flapped about in zero gravity..

this got me to thinking about space stations and artificial "gravity" created by rotaton..

if the surface of a rotating space station keeps you "stuck" to it by centrifugal ( or is it centrifical? ) force, what happens if you jumped off the surface?
would you just start to float in the zero gravity again?
how about if you ran in the opposite direction to the rotation?
would you get lighter and lighter as you reduced your angular velocity, eventually getting back to zero gravity?
if you ran with the rotation, would you get heavier?

how would this effect the birds?
sat on the "floor" they would experience the same "gravity" as we would, but what about when they were "in flight"?

 

[Alarm]

At a guess, if the floors were perpendicular to the axis centre you would be "Stuck" which every direction you went. In fact probably harder to walk in the oppo direction.

Birds would be stuffed.

Leaving the surface would negate the gravity. Especially in a EVA suit.

Well thats my guess

 

[Space cat]

what happens if you jumped off the surface?
would you just start to float in the zero gravity again?

No! As seen by a non-rotating observer outside the space station, you would still have forward momentum. Look at it this way and you'll see that your straight line trajectory will bring you back to the inside surface again. From your point of view it will be almost like jumping up and down in real gravity.

how about if you ran in the opposite direction to the rotation?
would you get lighter and lighter as you reduced your angular velocity, eventually getting back to zero gravity?

Yes! If you could match the speed of rotation in the opposite direction you would float free of the surface. Seen from outside, you are now floating in zero gravity while the station spins around you - but this won't last. The spinning station drags its internal atmosphere around with it and this 'wind' will get you moving again. From your point of view, air resistance will appear to slow you down until you drift back down to the surface.

if you ran with the rotation, would you get heavier?

Yes!

how would this effect the birds?
sat on the "floor" they would experience the same "gravity" as we would, but what about when they were "in flight"?

A bird flying inside the station would experience the same effects as you would if you made a running jump. Direction matters. Since flying is hard work, they might develop a preference for flying opposite to the direction of rotation.

 

[joe-90]

A bird flying in the vacuum of space would be a like a person swimming in air they'd go nowhere. I guess a space station would be given an atmosphere so then the bird would fly just like a bird in a plane or in a van.

 

[Space cat]

A bird flying in the vacuum of space --

It's life Jim but not as we know it.

A 'bird' that could live in a vacuum would, as you rightly point out, have no use for wings. If you want to move in space you have to eject something with momentum in the opposite direction. I would expect this hypothetical bird's digestive system to have evolved accordingly.

 

[peaps]

got a confirmed contact with the space station 2m.

Did some moon bounce while in the States also. listen to my force come back after shooting at the moooooon.

 

[joinerjohn]

got a confirmed contact with the space station 2m.

Did some moon bounce while in the States also. listen to my force come back after shooting at the moooooon.

Keep taking the drugs.

 

[peaps]

got a confirmed contact with the space station 2m.

Did some moon bounce while in the States also. listen to my force come back after shooting at the moooooon.

Keep taking the drugs.

http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/ws1_1.html

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/sarex.html

http://ariss.rac.ca/oindex.htm


Keep digging.