“I never really got it until I watched the Tom Scott video”
Makes the Coriolis force finally intuitive.
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Coriolis force. It's pretty basic but I never really got it until I watched the Tom Scott video this video
The artificial gravity lab
7.2M views · Apr 2, 2019 · 6:18 · 1 HN recommender · 5 mentions · discussed 2022–2025
Tom Scott tours the rotating room artificial gravity facility at Brandeis University's Graybiel lab. It shows how humans cope with rotation-based gravity and the odd effects such as Coriolis forces.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it as an intuitive demonstration of the Coriolis effect and the practical problems of spinning habitats.
“I never really got it until I watched the Tom Scott video”HN comment, 2023
What Hacker News said 5
“Here is a Tom Scott video about a more recent example”
Tom Scott tours a rotating lab showing practical problems of artificial gravity.
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The idea is much older for example 1948: link Various test chambers for astronauts where built to test how people respond to higher gravity / a rotating reference frame. Actually trying to do this runs into some unexpected issues in practice. Here is a Tom Scott video about a more recent example: this video
“Artificial Gravity via rotation is no walk in the the park either.”
Example of the difficulties of rotation-based artificial gravity.
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Artificial Gravity via rotation is no walk in the the park either. See: link for the long explanation. and the youtube example: this video
“A rotating reference frame creates some pretty non-intuitive effects”
Shows non-intuitive effects of living in a rotating reference frame.
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EMS = electro muscular stimulation? No, not 100%. Astronauts have very good resistance training onboard the ISS at this point. Some of them come back to earth stronger than they left. However, it turns out that your body also needs skeletal loading in order to produce strong bones. That kind of loading comes from having large forces distributed through the entire body. NASA tried a variety of shortcuts around resistance training, but none of them were satisfactory. A spinning drum is probably the best method short of artificial gravity, but it has a couple problems. A rotating reference frame creates some pretty non-intuitive effects ( this video ). Research is ongoing about just how fast a human can be spun for a long duration, although data is hard to come by. We also don't know how low of a gravity a human can stay healthy in without intervention like serious exercise. If it turns out that you need 1G, that involves a much larger spinning drum than a G/3 (Mars) or G/6 (Moon) environment. The problem is that we really have no way to simulate those environments for a human.
“Makes many movements harder and can result in getting sick.”
Shows spinning gravity makes movement harder and can cause sickness.
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Relevant Scott Manley video: link Relevant tom Scott video: this video There is a lot of research, but it’s not as simple as operating under real gravity. Makes many movements harder and can result in getting sick.