Why G-forces Can Be Deadly and How Pilots Avoid Blackouts

Third season for all mankind started well, Danny Stevens proved to be a worthy son of Gordo and Tracy. Everything happens precisely at his wedding to Amber, held in polar space hotel. At first, everything seems to be going well, but something goes wrong when a piece of space debris enters the window of one of the rooms. gravity inside the premises, it begins to dizzily rise up, everything is covered with debris and one of the propellers breaks. In the middle of all this business, you see passengers start to disappear. But why?

In fact, everything happens precisely because of this increase in the level of gravity. The tension of the head goes away in a crescendo as shown on the screen control room. After the incident, values ​​rose rapidly, reaching 2g, and the crew was concerned about the danger this would entail if it reached value 4. This is logical, since such a sudden increase in gravity in untrained people can be fatal.

This is what they are often exposed to. fighter pilots, astronauts and even Formula 1 drivers. The rest of the population may experience punctual climbing, for example, when we get to roller coaster. But nothing to do with what happens at Polaris until Danny saves all of his wedding guests in a heroic act. Now, leaving aside these heroic for all mankindlet’s see why all these people get dizzy and pass out when gravity increases.

gravity and overload

Although he is known as strength gramthis meaning does not refer to strength, but rather to the result acceleration. All bodies resting on the planet Earth do this while its surface pulls us towards itself with an acceleration of about 9.8 m/s2. This will be equivalent to 1gram.

Now sometimes we obey other very intense accelerations. They can be vertical, as when launching a rocket into space or diving a fighter. Or also due to centrifugal force when we ride a rollercoaster or go through a curve like a Formula 1 car. In all these cases, bodies can be subjected to much more intense acceleration than a simple earth gravity.

The level of danger from an increase in overload depends one factors such as body position, location or duration. For this reason, the sudden increase only when the roller coaster falls is not the same as the steady increase that took place in the North Star. For all mankind.

With a good attraction, this can, at most, cause a slight dizziness. But in the series Apple TVas in the real life of pilots or astronauts, it can be much more dangerous.

Why does For All Mankind make you dizzy?

Strength gram which greatly exceeds the Earth’s gravity, affects transport of oxygenated blood our body. It usually has pressure exerted heartbeat, which helps to carry it to all organs, both above and below the chest. However, this pressure is adapted only to the forces that normally act on us at rest. A sharp increase in this gravity value can complicate transportation by making it difficult for blood to reach the brain.

This is what is known among pilots as GLoc and its first effect is known as black vision. Retinal cells are very sensitive to pressure changes, so a kind of black veil appears before the eyes. This can become more and more intense and end with the victim’s fainting. All this, apart from hypoxia and visible shortness of breath seen in this chapter for all mankind.

Pilots are ready

The Polaris crew is concerned that the numbers are over 4.gram. In this case, the results can be terrible. However, aircraft pilots far exceed these figures. This is due to two reasons.

On the one hand, they have suits that minimize the effects of gravity. These are what are known as anti-g suits. But, on the other hand, they are very well trained to survive a sharp increase in this strength.

For example, they can contract the muscles in their abdomen and thighs to help push blood upwards. Thus, they prevent its stagnation and can get to the brain during the time when this extreme value occurs. In addition, they sense when things are going badly and change their maneuver before the effects of the increased overload become too strong.

But even they will suffer the consequences if the promotion was saved in time. As it would have happened on Polaris, if not for the heroic groom at the wedding. Bottom line: if you’re going to a space wedding, at least make sure the groom is an astronaut.