Weightlessness

Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation

of weight. This is also termed zero-G, although the more correct term is "zero G-
force". It occurs in the absence of any contact forces upon objects including the
human body.When the gravitational field is non-uniform, a body in free fall
experiences tidal effects and is not stress-free. Near a black hole, such tidal
effects can be very strong. In the case of the Earth, the effects are minor,
especially on objects of relatively small dimensions (such as the human body or
a spacecraft) and the overall sensation of weightlessness in these cases is
preserved. This condition is known as microgravity, and it prevails in orbiting
spacecraft.
Zero-g:-zero gravity
Zero-g is an alternative term for weightlessness and holds for instance in a
freely falling lift. Zero-g is subtly different from the complete absence of gravity,
something which is impossible due to the presence of gravity everywhere in the
universe. "Zero-gravity" may also be used to mean effective weightlessness,
neglecting tidal effects. Microgravity (or µg) is used to refer to situations that are
substantially weightless but where g-force stresses within objects due to tidal
effects, as discussed above, are around a millionth of that at the Earth's
surface. Accelerometers can only detect g-force i.e. weight2 (= mass × proper
acceleration). They cannot detect the acceleration associated with free fall.

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 Sensation of weight

The force on the feet is approximately double that on the cross-section through
the navel. Humans experience their own body weight as a result of this
supporting force, which results in a normal force applied to a person by the
surface of a supporting object, on which the person is standing or sitting. In the
absence of this force, a person would be in free-fall, and would experience
weightlessness. It is the transmission of this reaction force through the human
body, and the resultant compression and tension of the body's tissues, that
results in the sensation of weight.Because of the distribution of mass throughout
a person's body, the magnitude of the reaction force varies between a person's
feet and head. At any horizontal cross-section of a person's body (as with
any column), the size of the compressive force being resisted by the tissues
below the cross-section is equal to the weight of the portion of the body above
the cross-section. In the pose adopted in the accompanying illustration, the
shoulders carry the weight of the outstretched arms and are subject to a
considerable torque.

Ways to avoid weightlessness

Weightlessness is in contrast with current human experiences in which a non-
uniform force is acting, such as:

 standing on the ground, sitting in a chair on the ground, etc., where gravity is
countered by the support force of the ground,

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 flying in a plane, where a support force is transmitted from the lift the wings
provide (special trajectories which form an exception are described below),
 during atmospheric reentry, or during the use of a parachute,
when atmospheric drag decelerates a vehicle,
 during an orbital maneuver in a spacecraft, or during the launch phase,
when rocket engines provide thrust.

The Dangers of Zero Gravity

Astronauts on space missions suffer from balance problems, visual
disturbances, ‎damage to the heart muscle and bone loss. Free fall is the motion
of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. As the shuttle or the
space station is moving around the Earth with only gravitational force exherted
upon it (there is no air resistance in space), it can be said that they are in a state
of free fall. The reason they do not actually ―fall‖ but rather move in a circular
path is because the force of gravity is vertical to the direction of its initial velocity,
so that it affects just the direction of the velocity but not its size.Astronauts are
trained for the conditions by practicing in a reduced-gravity aircraft that flies in a
special parabolic route. The training helps them function in space but does not
prevent the harmful effects of zero gravity on health. Studies on people who
were on space stations for long periods have shown some of the effects are
temporary while others are more long-term.Brief exposure to weightlessness
causes space adaptation syndrome (SAS) or ―space sickness‖, which is the
most common problem in space travel. Weightlessness affects our orientation in
space and requires us to adapt many of our physiological processes to the new
conditions - mainly processes related to our balance system. When the
adjustment is not complete it results in nausea, dizziness, vomiting, headaches,
fatigue, general malaise, visual hallucinations and disorientation in space.

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 Experiencing weightlessness
You don't have to leave Earth to (briefly) escape the bonds of gravity. Anyone
who crested the top of the hill in a fast roller coaster, or who sat in a small plane
pushed down suddenly by the wind, briefly experienced weightlessness.

FACTS RELATED TO GRAVITIONAL WAVES AND BLACK HOLES

1. Gravitational waves were first predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago. It's
taken that long for our technology to catch up to his brilliance and confirm the
theory.

2. Scientists suspect that two merging black holes emit more energy in the form
of gravitational waves in the last few minutes before they collide than a single
star emits over billions of years.

3. Gravitational waves contract and expand the fabric of space-time, but only by
a very small amount. The LIGO instruments (one shown below) are designed to
detect a distortion that is 1 million times smaller than the width of a hydrogen
atom.

4. Gravitational waves allow us to detect — for the first time — when two black
holes are about to collide. The signal that LIGO scientists discovered from such
a collision, released 50 times more energy in the form of gravitational waves
than all of the power put out by all of the stars in the universe put together!

5. But it's not just black holes that emit gravitational waves — it's any two bodies
in orbit. That means the Sun and Earth emit gravitational waves too. But those
waves carry 100 billion times less energy than two merging black holes, making
it impossible to detect with current technology.

6.Scientists also estimate that two black holes merge somewhere in the
universe once every 15 minutes. That's a lot of gravitational waves that we can
now detect!

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 BLACKHOLES AND GRAVITAIONAL WAVES
Black holes are the only objects in the Universe that can trap light by sheer
gravitational force. Scientists believe they are formed when the corpse of a
massive star collapses in on itself, becoming so dense that it warps the fabric of
space and time. And any matter that crosses their event horizons, also known
as the point of no return, spirals helplessly toward an unknown fate. Despite
decades of research, these monstrous cosmological phenomena remain
shrouded in mystery.Some think that black holes are like cosmic vacuums that
suck in the space around them when, in fact, black holes are like any other
object in space, albeit with a very strong gravitational field.If you replaced the
Sun with a black hole of equal mass, Earth would not get sucked in – it would
continue orbiting the black hole as it orbits the Sun, today.
Black holes have this incredible ability to literally stretch you into a long
spaghetti-like strand. Appropriately, this phenomenon is called
'spaghettification'. The way it works has to do with how gravity behaves over
distance. Right now, your feet are closer to the centre of Earth and are therefore
more strongly attracted than your head. Under extreme gravity, say, near a
black hole, that difference in attraction will actually start working against you.As
your feet begin to get stretched by gravity's pull, they will become increasingly
more attracted as they inch closer to the centre of the black hole. The closer
they get, the faster they move. But the top half of your body is farther away and
so is not moving toward the centre as fast. The result: spaghettification!Thus it is
said that Black holes literally pull the space around them.
Black holes are the ultimate energy factories.Black holes can generate energy
more efficiently than our Sun.The way this works has to do with the disk of
material that orbits around a black hole. The material that is nearest to the fringe
of the event horizon on the inner edge of the disk will orbit much more quickly
than material at the very outer edge of the disk. This is because the gravitational
pull is stronger near the event horizon.Scientists believe there is be a
supermassive black hole at the centre of nearly every galaxy – including our
own. These black holes actually anchor galaxies, holding them together in the
space.The black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A, is more than
four million times more massive then our sun. Although the black hole, which is

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almost 30,000 light years away, is pretty dormant at the moment, scientists
believe that 2 million years ago it erupted in an explosion that may have even
been visible from Earth.

WHY DOES GRAVITY ONLY PULL?

Gravity is by far the weakest of the four fundamental forces. The other three are
electromagnetism; weak nuclear force, which governs how atoms decay; and
strong nuclear force, which holds atomic nuclei together.But Unlike the Force,
with its dark and light sides, gravity has no duality; it only attracts, never
repels. All the other forces in nature have opposites. In the case of the
electromagnetic force, for example, it can attract or repel, depending on the
charges of the bodies involved. So what makes gravity different?The answer
seems to lie with quantum field theory. The particles that transmit the strong,
weak and electromagnetic forces have various types of charge, such as electric
or colour charge. Those charges can be either positive or negative, leading to
different possibilities for the sign of the force. This is not the case with gravitons,
the hypothetical particles that quantum field theory says should transmit gravity.
Gravitons respond to energy density, which is always positive.

Are there any particles that are not affected by gravity?

Gravity is the observed fact that things fall when dropped. This observed fact is
a consequence of the fact that the geometry of spacetime is curved.
Any object — cricket ball, electron, hypothetical magic leprechaun particle —
moving through spacetime will, well, move through spacetime. Therefore any
object will move along trajectories that are determined by the underlying
geometry of the region of spacetime through which they move. Therefore
everything falls.

PLANTS IN SPACE
Gravity is a constant for all organisms on Earth. It acts on every aspect of our
physiology, behavior and development – no matter what you are, you evolved in
an environment where gravity roots us firmly to the ground.But what happens if
you’re removed from that familiar environment and placed into a situation
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outside your evolutionary experience? Grown in space, plants show disoriented
roots that don’t get the best access to nutrients and water. Poor starch
production is one of a number of adverse effects of this. Some seeds grown in
microgravity even produce plants in which the genes are expressed differently
from normal.NASA is looking at ways to provide astronauts with nutrients in a
long-lasting, easily absorbed form—freshly grown fresh fruits and vegetables.
The challenge is how to do that in a closed environment without sunlight or
Earth’s gravity.
Veggie:-The Vegetable Production System, known as Veggie, is a space garden
residing on the space station. Veggie’s purpose is to help NASA study plant
growth in microgravity, while adding fresh food to the astronauts’ diet and
enhancing happiness and well-being on the orbiting laboratory. The Veggie
garden is about the size of a carry-on piece of luggage and typically holds six
plants. Each plant grows in a ―pillow‖ filled with a clay-based growth media and
fertilizer. The pillows are important to help distribute water, nutrients and air in a
healthy balance around the roots. Otherwise, the roots would either drown in
water or be engulfed by air because of the way fluids in space tend to form
bubbles.In the absence of gravity, plants use other environmental factors, such
as light, to orient and guide growth. A bank of light emitting diodes (LEDs) above
the plants produces a spectrum of light suited for the plants’ growth. Since
plants reflect a lot of green light and use more red and blue wavelengths, the
Veggie chamber typically glows magenta pink.
The Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), like Veggie, is another growth chamber on
station for plant research. It uses LED lights and a porous clay substrate with
controlled release fertilizer to deliver water, nutrients and oxygen to the plant
roots.

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 Plants Grow Without Gravity
Plants don’t really care about the gravity so much if you can get the environment
right.Normally, plant roots grow downward, where it’s easy for them to soak up
water and nutrients that make their way into the soil. In space, roots grow in
every direction, and water and other essential plant foods float.
In 1982, the crew of the Soviet Salyut 7 space station conducted an experiment,
prepared by Lithuanian scientists (Alfonsas Merkys and others), and grew
some Arabidopsis using Fiton-3 experimental micro-greenhouse apparatus, thus
becoming the first plants to flower and produce seeds in space.
Arabidopsis (rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are
small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. All of the species
in Arabidopsis are indigenous to Europe, while two of the species have broad
ranges also extending into North America and Asia.Arabidopsis thaliana has
gained much interest from the scientific community as a model organism for
research on numerous aspects of plant biology.
Astronauts have grown several varieties of lettuce, radishes, peas, zinnias,
and sunflowers, and they do just fine. ―Plants are very adaptive, and they have
to be—they can’t run away,‖ says Gioia Massa, a scientist at NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center who studies plants in microgravity.

ANIMALS IN ZERO GRAVITY

Animals suffer a raft of problems if they are deprived of gravity – though we
don’t yet know the whole story. ―We’ve had animal life in space for half a
century, but we’ve yet to have a single mammal go through its life cycle,‖ says
biologist Richard Wassersug of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada. Gravity has had an effect on the development of animal life since the
first single-celled organism. The size of single biological cells is inversely
proportional to the strength of the gravitational field exerted on the cell. That is,
in stronger gravitational fields the size of cells decreases, and in weaker
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gravitational fields the size of cells increases. Gravity is thus a limiting factor in
the growth of individual cells.

Tardigrades, the Only Animal That Can Survive in Space

Tardigrades are the first known animal to survive after exposure to outer space.
In September 2007, dehydrated tardigrades were taken into low Earth orbit on
the FOTON-M3 mission carrying the BIOPAN astrobiology payload.
Tardigrades are one of the most fascinating creatures on Earth—and the moon.
Tardigrades are a class of microscopic animals with eight limbs and a strange,
alien-like behavior. The tardigrades were in "tun" form, a dormant state where
they shrivel up into a ball, expel most of the water in their bodies, and lower their
metabolism via cryptobiosis until they enter an environment better suited to
sustain life. They can exist like this for decades. They're also pretty hardy and
can endure the harshest environments, including subzero temperatures—and
crash lunar landings.
THE EFFECT OF ZERO GRAVITY ON THE HUMAN BODY
The human body tends to relax in a state of weightlessness because it no longer
fights the pull of gravity. This lack of the gravitational pull alleviates the
mechanical strain otherwise endured by our skeletal system. All organisms on
earth have sensory and response systems with which they respond to internal
and external stimuli. Besides the five main senses (smell, touch, sight, taste and
hearing) we humans possess, there is one more powerful sense called the
vestibular sense that enables our body to sense movements and use it to
maintain balance. Walking a tightrope, pirouetting in a ballet performance, or
twisting while diving, all showcase our vestibular system as it actively keeps
track of the position of our arms and legs and enable us to perform these tricks
without losing balance. This requires the precise integration of our body's
sensory and response systems including visual, vestibular, somatosensory
(pressure and stretch receptors in our skin), and auditory. Together, these
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senses constantly collect and interpret data from all over the body. However,
loss of gravity negatively impacts this spatial perception. The dizziness or
difficulty in walking we experience after spinning around in a circle, clearly
demonstrate what happens when we lose this sense even for a few moments.
The vestibular system, which is situated in the ears, is comprised of otolith
organs and semicircular canals. We can sense the direction and speed of linear
acceleration (speed changes without change in direction) due to the otolith
organs while the semicircular canals allow us to sense the direction and speed
of angular acceleration (speed changes along with change in direction). The
vestibular apparatus in the human ears is designed to work with earth's gravity
and provides sensory information about motion, equilibrium, and spatial
orientation. Take gravity away and we can no longer figure out where the ground
and ceiling are!

What is Float Therapy?

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 Float therapy is where one floats weightlessly
on one's back on approximately 12 inches
high , 500kg Epsom Salt saturated water
solution which is warmed up to skin surface
temperature.At ZeroGravity Float Centre, you
will be floating in our Dreampod floatation
tank that will provide a zero-gravity-like
environment, reduced of external stimuli.
Float therapy is a next-generation wellness
method with amazing health benefits.

BENEFITS OF FLOAT THERAPY

 DEEP RELAXATION: Lowers cortisol/heart rate/muscle tension
Increases endorphins & dopamine
 NECK & BACK PAIN RELIEF:Enables your back and spine to fully
decompress
 MAGNESIUM ABSORBTION: Epsom Salts (magnesium sulphate) is
absorbed during floats helps improve nerve function, circulation,
muscle relaxation
 BRAIN SYNCHRONISATION: Leads to higher levels of mental
performance, productivity, clarity & confidence
 ATHLETIC RECOVERY :Encourages circulation & detoxification while
enhancing mental clarity & performance visualization
 MEDITATION:Engages Theta Brainwaves for deep meditation &
relaxation

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