Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: EvaH on 05/10/2020 12:22:52
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David asks:
Would travelling through space make us live longer due to the affects of no or very little gravity?
What do you think?
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Humans are evolved to live under Earth gravity. Put any creature in a different environment than that for which it is evolved will probably result in a shortened life expectancy.
The lack of gravity would cause bones and muscles to atrophy, which isn't healthy. Space in general is extremely hostile to terrestial life. There is constant lethal radiation. Small accidents which are annoying on Earth are often fatal in space. I would not want to sell a life insurance policy to the spaceman.
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I think if you had said .
Would travelling through space make us live longer and left out ''due to the affects of no or very little gravity?''
Then you may have got a few more interesting answers ,even though ultimately the answer would still be no
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I would not want to sell a life insurance policy to the spaceman.
It depends on the price, which is negotiable.
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Would travelling through space make us live longer due to the affects of no or very little gravity?
Is this asking about the effects of Einstein's Relativity due to time dilation?
- With the chemical and ion rockets available today, time dilation due to Special Relativity would be extremely small, as they can reach only a tiny fraction of c
- However, chemical rockets have already carried humans to the Moon, and in the next 20 years might carry humans to Mars. Moving outside a gravitational field does provide a degree of time dilation.
The GPS satellites are further outside Earth's gravitational field than we standing on the Earth's surface.
- Gravitational time dilation amounts to a handful of microseconds per day at the 20,000km altitude of the GPS satellites.
- Going outside Low Earth Orbit, you leave Earth's protective magnetic field, and radiation will shorten your life by more than microseconds per day (on average).
- If you get seriously ill from disease or accident, you are likely to die before you reach the nearest hospital
Even going outside our galaxy would not provide enough time dilation to offset the effects of cosmic rays (and it will take even longer to reach a hospital!)