3 ms·

What about having a large enough module on a space station, and you simply stuck in the center of it, just floating and cannot push/pull yourself anywhere?

by tzfld 5y ago

BeeOnRope 5y ago
You could throw something one direction so you float in the other.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jakemoshenko 5y ago
This seems impossible to me without a bad actor being involved. How did you get stuck there in the first place? In one scenario you departed from a wall or hand hold somewhere and air resistance slowed you to a stop in the middle. In that case, you should be able to swim through the air given enough time. In the other scenario there is no air in the space station, and as far as I can imagine, the only way to have gotten there with zero velocity would be for someone or something to place you there. Then presumably you could ask that same someone or something for help getting back. There are some nightmare scenarios involving malevolent robots or rooms so large and velocities so slow that you would die before you made it to the other side that are pretty terrifying to consider.
- devenson 5y ago
  You could accidentally throw your last throwable object which zeros out you velocity, leaving you hopelessly stuck.
  - jakemoshenko 5y ago
    Good point, then you are the bad actor!
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Eventually you'll probably need to take a piss. Newtonian physics will take it from there.
aw1621107 5y ago
Something similar actually happened, seemingly as an experiment [0]: > DAN BARRY | Stranded in the middle of the room > STS-96 > Entering the space station from the orbiter for the first time in 1999 was an exhilarating experience. Even with just two modules-Unity and Zarya-in place, the station's volume was 10 times that of Discovery's flight deck and mid-deck combined. I floated exactly to the center of Unity, where I could not reach the walls, and got stranded in the middle of the room. It's not easy to get stranded-I had to have my friends help me get perfectly still. Once I was stationary, my brain remained convinced that I could somehow maneuver or kick myself over to the wall. But when I reached out an arm, my body moved back and my center remained in the middle of the room. I instinctively tried moving fast, then slow, then bicycled my legs. None of it helped. I just had to wait for the air currents to drift me to the wall. Sneezing and spitting didn't do much good either. On the other hand, throwing clothing as fast as I could produced enough reaction to send me to the opposite wall. [0]: https://space.stackexchange.com/a/18485 https://space.stackexchange.com/a/18485
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  > On the other hand, throwing clothing as fast as I could produced enough reaction to send me to the opposite wall. Never forget your towel.
  - stronglikedan 5y ago
    > throwing clothing as fast as I could I wonder if the same effect could be achieved with a single piece of clothing, by repeatedly snapping it in the same fashion that one would playfully snap a towel in a locker room.
    - ASalazarMX 5y ago
      This got me thinking, if air currents are enough to drift people in micro gravity, having one of those sticky toy hands in the pocket could become really handy.
- bentcorner 5y ago
gokhan 5y ago
See for yourself: https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1393598159008505856 https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1393598159008505856

What about having a large enough module on a space station, and you simply stuck in the center of it, just floating and cannot push/pull yourself anywhere?

by tzfld 5y ago

What about having a large enough module on a space station, and you simply stuck in the center of it, just floating and cannot push/pull yourself anywhere?

BeeOnRope 5y ago

You could throw something one direction so you float in the other.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jakemoshenko 5y ago

This seems impossible to me without a bad actor being involved. How did you get stuck there in the first place? In one scenario you departed from a wall or hand hold somewhere and air resistance slowed you to a stop in the middle. In that case, you should be able to swim through the air given enough time. In the other scenario there is no air in the space station, and as far as I can imagine, the only way to have gotten there with zero velocity would be for someone or something to place you there. Then presumably you could ask that same someone or something for help getting back. There are some nightmare scenarios involving malevolent robots or rooms so large and velocities so slow that you would die before you made it to the other side that are pretty terrifying to consider.

devenson 5y ago
You could accidentally throw your last throwable object which zeros out you velocity, leaving you hopelessly stuck.
- jakemoshenko 5y ago
  Good point, then you are the bad actor!

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

Eventually you'll probably need to take a piss. Newtonian physics will take it from there.

aw1621107 5y ago

Something similar actually happened, seemingly as an experiment [0]: > DAN BARRY | Stranded in the middle of the room > STS-96 > Entering the space station from the orbiter for the first time in 1999 was an exhilarating experience. Even with just two modules-Unity and Zarya-in place, the station's volume was 10 times that of Discovery's flight deck and mid-deck combined. I floated exactly to the center of Unity, where I could not reach the walls, and got stranded in the middle of the room. It's not easy to get stranded-I had to have my friends help me get perfectly still. Once I was stationary, my brain remained convinced that I could somehow maneuver or kick myself over to the wall. But when I reached out an arm, my body moved back and my center remained in the middle of the room. I instinctively tried moving fast, then slow, then bicycled my legs. None of it helped. I just had to wait for the air currents to drift me to the wall. Sneezing and spitting didn't do much good either. On the other hand, throwing clothing as fast as I could produced enough reaction to send me to the opposite wall. [0]: https://space.stackexchange.com/a/18485 https://space.stackexchange.com/a/18485

ASalazarMX 5y ago
> On the other hand, throwing clothing as fast as I could produced enough reaction to send me to the opposite wall. Never forget your towel.
- stronglikedan 5y ago
  > throwing clothing as fast as I could I wonder if the same effect could be achieved with a single piece of clothing, by repeatedly snapping it in the same fashion that one would playfully snap a towel in a locker room.
  - ASalazarMX 5y ago
    This got me thinking, if air currents are enough to drift people in micro gravity, having one of those sticky toy hands in the pocket could become really handy.
bentcorner 5y ago

gokhan 5y ago

See for yourself: https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1393598159008505856 https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1393598159008505856