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Centrifuge - Centrifuge Studies In The Space Sciences

object —the mcgraw hill

Centrifuge studies have been very important in the development of manned space flight programs. Human volunteers are placed into very large centrifuges and then spun at high velocities. Inside the centrifuge, humans feel high gravitational velocities that correspond to high gravitational forces ("g forces") that occur during the launch of space vehicles. Such experiments help space scientists understand the limits of acceleration that humans can endure in such situations.

Resources

Books

"Centrifugation." McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987, volume 3, pp. 392—398.

Dufour, John W., and W. Ed Nelson. Centrifugal Pump Source-book. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.

Lobanoff, Val S., and Robert R. Ross. Centrifugal Pumps. 2nd edition. Houston: Gulf Publications, 1992.

Trefil, James. Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. The Reference Works, Inc., 2001.


David E. Newton

KEY TERMS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Centrifugal force

—The tendency of an object traveling in a circle around a central point to escape from the center in a straight line.

Gravitation

—The pull of the earth's mass on an object.

Revolutions per minute

—The number of times per minute an object travels around some central point.

Rotation

—The spinning of an object on its axis.

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