ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY

Why your washing machine spins rapidly to dry your clothes? Let us find out

Think a rotating body. A force called centripetal force must act to keep the body in rotation. That is a constant force but its direction keeps-on changing circularly. So the acceleration is always present in a rotatory motion. More speed means more acceleration and more force[F = ma].

We know, ' acceleration' due to gravity is 9.8m/s^2. A force which give rise to 9.8 m/s^2 acceleration is called one 'g' force.

Centripetal force acts from the body towards the centre. An equal reaction force[centrifugal force] acts from the centre towards the body and tries to push the body away. Hence by spinning a body at the right speed, one can create the centrifugal force of any 'g' value.

The spinning earth gives rise to centrifugal force. That force pushes the earth from inside and makes it bulging. Hence earth looks more like an apple then like an orange.

The medical centrifuge is a very important invention next to the microscope. Here, test tubes containing solutions are spun fast to separate heavy and light particles. In this centrifuge, the centrifugal force of thousands of g comes into play. It pushes dense particles to the bottom of the tube (precipitation).

For example viruses, milk cream is separated in this way.
the human centrifuge is a cabin connected to a long arm and rotated vigorously in the circular hall. Here, pilots and astronauts are trained to experience 'g' force up to 20g for a brief time.

The washing machine dryer contains a drum with a lot of holes in the wall. The wet clothes carrying drum is spun fast. Due to high g centrifugal force, the clothes are pushed towards the wall of the drum. That is, squeezed, and the water escapes through the holes.

This is the story of 'how high-g is created on the surface of the earth.
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