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TeetsMcGeets23 t1_j12oxiy wrote

Reply to comment by NotAnotherEmpire in Could being submersed in a sealed tank of fluid help humans survive heavy G acceleration in outer space? by cheeze_whiz_shampoo

Wouldn’t the issue be primarily “sudden deceleration” from a high-speed interstellar flight? Like, you’re speeding up constantly through your travel through space then arrive at your destination and have to stop; which for you is essentially accelerating force acting on you from a different direction.

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sg3niner t1_j12qr8p wrote

Practically speaking, you'd boost for half the trip, flip, and brake the second half.

Instant stop would squish everything.

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EcchiOli t1_j13ier6 wrote

A certain episode from the Expanse series nicely dealt with this "squish" that would come from instant stop.

For those of you who haven't watched it, imagine a human strapped to a seat, his bones remained in the seat, the flesh kept on moving for a bit longer.

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grafknives t1_j131g1z wrote

That is not an issue. A single digit G de-acceleration is Still extremely fast in terms of space travel.

If we ignore relativistic effect, we could accelerate/de-accelerate from half C to standstill in 25 days, while experiencing ONLY 1G.

So when flying to alpha Centauri at half C (still ignoring relativistic effects), it would take one month of speeding to C/2 with 1G, 8 years of flying at this "top speed" and one month of slowing down with one G.

G force are NOT a problem at this scale.

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ChemicalRain5513 t1_j1381fu wrote

Even better, once you take into account time dilation, the distances you can cover with such a manoeuvre in a certain amound of proper tine are equal to the classical calculation. Meaning in 1 human lifetime with 40 years 1G acceleration and then deceleration, you would cover almost 1700 light years in 80 years of proper time. Of course that means everyone you knew on earth is dead.

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Chilliwhack t1_j150odf wrote

Example above is talking about long distance travel though what about the equivalent of short distance fighters?

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FogeltheVogel t1_j13c9wf wrote

It's not "essentially". It just is. Deceleration is just acceleration in the other direction.

You can't come to a sudden stop any more than a sudden speed.

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