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Does negative Gs are dangerous


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Negative G's usually refers to the case where you are orientated upright with respect to a high downwards acceleration, usually while sitting (for example in a fighter cockpit).

Just like high positive G's are a problem when they make all of the blood flow to your legs and away from the brain, causing a "blackout", high negative G's will make the blood rush into your head and cause a "redout". You lose consciousness in both cases.

If you want to experience a bit of that in an easily digestible fashion, play the Star Citizen alpha :P

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Positive Gs are preferable to negative, because blood rushing to the feet can be countered easier. A "G suit" can squeeze the lower parts of the body, along with muscle tensing, it is slightly harder and pilots don't like it as much when you try to squeeze their head.

Then of course there are many more critical areas in the upper body which are sensitive to overpressure in the blood vessels, eg eyes and brain, burst blood vessels in your legs are easier to deal with then ruptures in the brain, or eye.

The sooner they figure out that a pilot in the prone position can withstand higher turning forces than a seated one then you will get more manoeuvrable fighters .. or just drones ofc.

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Trained pilots with an anti-G suits can take up to 9G and stay conscious, however -3G can cause death or brain/eyes damage.

So avoid designing spacecraft were the Kerbals are "eyeballs out", they'll appreciate :P

Edited by N_Molson
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  • 1 month later...
On ‎02‎.‎05‎.‎2016 at 6:50 PM, N_Molson said:

So avoid designing spacecraft were the Kerbals are "eyeballs out", they'll appreciate :P

This didn't prevent NASA from designing their Apollo-Venus variant just that exact way.

Edited by DDE
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Negative Gs are dangerous because nature did not design out bodies to cope with it. You organs are pretty much suspended inside your body, 'hanging' inside your body. If you apply negative Gs, things start compressing and folding in ways they do not like. Positive Gs, however, are acting in the appropriate direction and therefore much less of a problem.

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This didn't prevent NASA from designing their Apollo-Venus variant just that exact way.

Like anything harmful, there are two parameters to consider : magnitude and exposure in time. If you keep things below a dangerous threshold, its OK. But the point is that you reach that treshold much faster with negative Gs than with positive Gs.

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