  High performance aircraft pilots and astronauts experience
"g" or gravity force when they perform or are involved in some maneuvers. Under
certain conditions like a tight turn, a pull up, or when experiencing a space shuttle
take-off, the pilot or astronauts will feel multiple "g" forces. In effect, a
180-pound pilot or astronaut experiencing 3 g's will weigh 540 pounds. High "g"
loads upon the human body can cause disorientation, blackout and could have a fatal
result. To train as a high performance pilot or astronaut, a device called a centrifuge
has been developed to simulate "g" loads on a human. A centrifuge travels an
object in a circular path. It operates similar to a merry-go-round at an amusement park
except it can be programmed to go around much faster. There is a formula that can be used
to calculate the g's a person feels when training on a centrifuge.
g's = 4 ´ p 2 ´ DT / 32 ´
TP2
DT = Distance from the Turning Point
TP = Turning Period
The turning period is the time it will take a rider to make one complete turn.
A pilot/astronaut-training centrifuge has a diameter of 30 feet. It will spin the
person 15 feet from the centrifuge's center point. It will take the astronaut 4 seconds to
make one complete turn. The circumference or distance around is 30 p
or approximately 94 feet. How many "g's", will the astronaut feel? What will be
the astronaut's approximate comparable speed in miles per hour?
Given: p = 3.14
g = 4 ´ 3.142 ´ (15
feet) / 32 ´ 42
g = 592 / 512 = 1.16
So the astronaut will feel 1.2 g's
And the astronaut's speed will be:
Speed in miles per hour = (94 ft / 4 sec) ´ (1 mile /
5,280 ft) ´ (3,600 sec /1 hour)
Speed = 338,400 mile / 21,120 hours
or 16 miles per hour
Using the same centrifuge information from the above example (30 feet diameter), how
long a turning period - in seconds - will the centrifuge take so the pilot/astronaut feels
4 g's, and how fast will that be in miles per hour?
Estimate the answer:
 1.8 seconds and 35.6 miles per hour
3.4 seconds and 18.9 miles per hour
2.1 seconds and 30.5 miles per hour
 
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