[2013-Oct-16] Awful.
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Astrogirl
- so close, yet so far
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Re: [2013-Oct-16] Awful.
Oh, I already thought my Adblock or something was hiding the avatar.
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Lethal Interjection
- Death by Elocution
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Re: [2013-Oct-16] Awful.
I had a reason, it just that time and discussion have made it feel pretty pedantic.GUTCHUCKER wrote:Odd, that's what I feel like saying, and sometimes do, when I don't actually have a reason.Lethal Interjection wrote:I'm done explaining. Apathy has long since taken over.
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GUTCHUCKER
- Gotchucker's less handsome twin
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mic
Re: [2013-Oct-16] Awful.
Suffocation is not what will experience when traveling through space at the speed of light.
It does, of course, depend on where exactly in space you are traveling.
The interstellar medium of the milky way has a density of approximately 1 hydrogen atom per cm³, or 2e-21kg/m³.
The mass flow rate can be calculated from that density rho, cross-section area A, velocity (approximately c) and lorentz (space contraction) factor alpha: Q = rho * A * c * alpha
The kinetic impact power of the mass flow can be calculated from P_kin = (alpha - 1) * Q * c².
However, at these velocities, the impact will probably cause most of the mass to be converted to radiation completely, plus additionally cause fusion and fission processes in the human tissue, so a better approximation for total absorbed power would probably be
P = alpha * Q * c² = alpha² * c³ * rho * A.
For v = .9c, alpha equals about 2, yielding P/A = 200kW/m²
For v = .99c, alpha equals about 7, yielding P/A = 2MW/m²
Taking the cross-section area of the human head alone, about 0.03m², P would be 5kW or 50kW.
200kJ should be more than enough to heat the human brain by more than 10K, killing a sufficient amount of brain cells.
At 0.9c, this will take 40 seconds, while at 0.99c it will take only 4 seconds.
Not to mention the other effects of the ultra-high energy radiation bombardment (the brain receives 1 Kilosievert/second at 0.9c).
Nope. Suffocation is definitely not what you would be observing.
Disclaimers:
As you probably have noticed, all numbers are approximations; the magnitudes should be in order, though.
I assumed that most hydrogen atoms will actually interact with the brain tissue, instead of just passing through.
It does, of course, depend on where exactly in space you are traveling.
The interstellar medium of the milky way has a density of approximately 1 hydrogen atom per cm³, or 2e-21kg/m³.
The mass flow rate can be calculated from that density rho, cross-section area A, velocity (approximately c) and lorentz (space contraction) factor alpha: Q = rho * A * c * alpha
The kinetic impact power of the mass flow can be calculated from P_kin = (alpha - 1) * Q * c².
However, at these velocities, the impact will probably cause most of the mass to be converted to radiation completely, plus additionally cause fusion and fission processes in the human tissue, so a better approximation for total absorbed power would probably be
P = alpha * Q * c² = alpha² * c³ * rho * A.
For v = .9c, alpha equals about 2, yielding P/A = 200kW/m²
For v = .99c, alpha equals about 7, yielding P/A = 2MW/m²
Taking the cross-section area of the human head alone, about 0.03m², P would be 5kW or 50kW.
200kJ should be more than enough to heat the human brain by more than 10K, killing a sufficient amount of brain cells.
At 0.9c, this will take 40 seconds, while at 0.99c it will take only 4 seconds.
Not to mention the other effects of the ultra-high energy radiation bombardment (the brain receives 1 Kilosievert/second at 0.9c).
Nope. Suffocation is definitely not what you would be observing.
Disclaimers:
As you probably have noticed, all numbers are approximations; the magnitudes should be in order, though.
I assumed that most hydrogen atoms will actually interact with the brain tissue, instead of just passing through.