Read the following Article and respond to one of questions below (repeat answers will not receive credit).
In what way is this chemistry related?
What will be accomplished scientifically by breaking this record?
Leap of faith: 5 ways skydiving 120,000 feet can kill you
By Stephanie Pappas
Published October 07, 2012
| LiveScience
On Tuesday (Oct. 9), Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner will ascend more than 120,000 feet into the atmosphere inside a capsule attached to a helium balloon. Then, with nothing but a pressurized suit and a parachute, Baumgartner will jump out of the capsule and plummet toward Earth, breaking the sound barrier on the way down.
What could go wrong?
Quite a few things, it turns out — though Baumgartner and his Red Bull-sponsored team say they have considered and prepared for the risks. Here are five of the dangers that Baumgartner faces as he attempts a record-breaking leap.
1. Flat Spin
The problem: In low air pressure, high-altitude skydivers risk going into something called "flat spin." In this position, the body rotates horizontally — imagine a record spinning on a record player. An uncontrolled flat spin could render Baumgartner unconscious, his blood rushing to his extremities, including his head. There, blood could pool in his eyes, causing temporary blindness. Worse, the force of the spin and the rush of blood to the head could cause massive brain bleeding and clotting, which could easily be fatal.
The prevention: If Baumgartner's spin gets out of a control, a special elongated parachute will deploy to help stabilize his descent.
2. Boiling Blood
The problem: At the edge of space, from which Baumgartner will make his leap, the air pressure is less than 1 percent of that on Earth's surface. Above 63,000 feet (19,200 meters), the lack of pressure can cause air bubbles to form in the blood, a condition referred to as blood boiling. A bubble large enough to stop the blood from flowing in a major artery could be fatal, and sudden decompression can expand and then collapse the lungs. Depressurization can also cause the body to swell in seconds, as occurred in 1960 when Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger Jr. jumped from 102,800 feet (31,133 m). When Kittinger's glove failed to pressurize properly, his hand swelled to twice its size on descent. [8 Craziest Skydives Ever]
The prevention: Baumgartner's full-pressure suit and helmet are designed to protect the skydiver as he falls. The team has emergency medical protocols in place should Baumgartner arrive on the ground in crisis.
3. Freezing
The problem: The upper atmosphere is a very cold place. The Red Bull Stratos team estimates Baumgartner will step out of his capsule into temperatures of minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius). As he plummets, he could experience minus 70 degrees F (minus 56 degrees C) or lower. In such cold air, Baumgartner's body would be unable to maintain a core temperature of 98.6 degrees F (37 degrees C) for long. When body temperature drops to 82 degrees F (28 degrees C), unconsciousness can occur. Death is likely when the body dips below 70 degrees F (21 degrees C).
The prevention: Baumgartner's suit should protect him from temperatures as low as minus 90 F (minus 68 C).
4. Shock Waves
The problem: As Baumgartner's body approaches the speed of sound, he'll be playing with some serious forces. Shock-shock interaction occurs when shock waves, also known as sonic booms, in the air collide, in this case the stratosphere that Baumgartner is descending through. Such forces could buffet Baumgartner and possibly endanger him or his pressurized suit. "[Baumgartner will] be colliding with the gas so fast that it can't flow out of his way because it effectively doesn't know that he's coming," physicist Louis Bloomfield of the University of Virginia, told LiveScience's sister site Life's Little Mysteries.
The prevention: According to the Red Bull Stratos team, the thin air is an advantage in this case. Shock waves are less powerful when the air is less dense.
5. Hitting the ground
The problem: Hitting the ground without slowing down enough from a 120,000-foot fall is a very bad idea.
The prevention: Should Baumgartner fall unconscious during his skydive, his emergency parachute will deploy automatically. Unfortunately, he may not be out of the woods in that scenario, as he will be unable to steer his landing or adjust his speed in the final moments of the fall. That could make for a difficult return to Earth.
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.foxnews.comhttp://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/07/leap-faith-5-ways-skydiving-120000-feet-can-kill/
This article is, indeed, chemistry related. It talks about air pressure, the atmosphere, depressurization, temperature, and shock waves, or sonic booms.
ReplyDeleteIf Baumgartner broke the record, it could help scientists come up with new parachutes and/or pressure suits. If the same thing is to be repeated in the future, scientific data gathered by Baumgartner's brave jump can prevent them from death or fatal injury.
Everything here is chemistry related. We learned about freezing and boiling in class. And everything that they did to prevent him from getting hurt is chemistry related. For example the article says, "Baumgartner's full-pressure suit and helmet are designed to protect the skydiver as he falls." They had to test that suit to make sure he would be safe and pressure is chemistry. Also the article said, "Baumgartner's suit should protect him from temperatures as low as minus 90 F (minus 68 C)." So they had to test the suit for temperature, which is also chemistry. Just from his jump, new equpiment could come out to help explore places unknow by human touch. For example they could make the pressure and temperature suit better and we could go deeper underwater or higher in the sky. They could also make automatic parachutes to steer if someone goes unconscious. That is how everything here is chemistry related and how his jump could accomplished something scientifically new.
ReplyDeleteThe article relates to chemistry because the multiple variable that Felix had to go through. First off he needed to deal with the change in pressure. He had to equalize the pressure in his suit to keep his body stable, if the pressure was different it would have been possible for air to from in his blood. If that had happen he could have died. Also he had to deal with the G-forces, and temperature. A lot of planning went through this jump and if they hadn't looked at all the chemistry related problems Felix would be dead.
ReplyDeleteEach and every way is related to Chemistry, but I think temperature (Freezing) is more related.
ReplyDeleteThe team had to make sure his suit was suitable for his environment. They had to figure out the flow of heat when he is in a cold temperature region, the upper atmosphere. In result, they estimated that in that extremely cold environment, his body would not be able to keep a temperature of 98.6. In fact without proper equipment, Baumgartner's body temperature could drop to 82 degrees Fahrenheit or even lower. It is stated "When body temperature drops to 82 degrees F (28 degrees C), unconsciousness can occur. Death is likely when the body dips below 70 degrees F (21 degrees C)."
By breaking this record, scientists are able to observe what really happens. They were prepared for certain accidents that could of happen and now that the landing is successful they are able to develop better ideas.
This article is related to chemistry in all its aspects. I say this because the article discusses issues such as air pressure and temperature. Chemistry deals with boiling points and freezing points, which revolve around this jump. The measures taken to prevent Felix from harm were chemistry related since, as stated by Stephanie, "Baumgartner's suit should protect him from temperatures as low as minus 90 F (minus 68 C)." In order to make sure the suit worked they would have had to test it various times and find out the actual freezing point that could possibly kill him. By doing so, they would be able to figure out how to built the suit that could resist such temperatures. By breaking this record, scientifically, scientists would be ably to gather enough data to conduct an experiment like this and/or could use the data to construct a better one. It would help others survive when jumping from such altitudes.
ReplyDeleteThis particular article is in fact tied to Chemistry. It talks about how when there is low air pressure, the high-altitude skydivers are severely at risk by going into something called "flat spin." It also mentions that "the lack of pressure can cause air bubbles to form in the blood, a condition referred to as blood boiling", and students learn about boiling points during Chemistry class. Freezing is the main aspect, for example it is said that when the body temperature decreases to 28 degrees Celsius, unconsciousness can occur, so they try to make proper equipment so this does not happen, and if it drops low enough, death is even a possible result. Lastly, it was said that as" Baumgartner's body approaches the speed of sound, he will be playing with some serious forces".
ReplyDeleteBy breaking the record, scientists have observed it and were able to gather enough data in order to further improve the suit to provide more resistance to the lower temperatures, steering clear of death and unconsciousness. By doing this, it would make it more safe for people who might attempt to repeat it.
This article is related to chemistry because it talks about the air pressure and how it can cause his blood to form bubbles and to boil. In class students learned about different pressures and boiling points. The temperature of the atmosphere is also related to chemistry because we also learned about freezing points. As the skydiver plummets towards earth, the temperature of the atmosphere can cause his body temperature to decrease and eventually lead to death.
ReplyDeleteThis artice is definitely related to chemistry and relates to alll of the topics that we have leatned about in the past or are currently learning about. First, the article talks about air pressure. If a high-altitude diver experiences too low of air pressure, they will go into something called "flat spin". The article also talks about blood boiling, while we have talked about boiling point. They are somewhat related in that blood boiling is when a lack of pressure causes air bubbles to form in the blood while boiling point is the temperature at which liquid's vapor pressure is equal to the external or atmospheric pressure. The article then talks about at what temperature the diver's body is unable to maintain its core temperature. This is related to the chemistry concepts of freezing points, which is the temperature at which a liquid changes to a solid. The article next talks about the speed of sound and shock forces, which is more closely related to physics, but we have also briefly discussed these terms in class. Many times chemists use these calculations to reach more chemistry related solutions.
ReplyDeleteAnother way that this article is closely relates to chemistry is the people planning this dive had to test many things, just like chemists do when doing an experiment or a lab. For example, they had to test to see if the diver's suit could withstand up to 90 degrees below zero temperature. Another example is they would have had to test the parachute to see if it can deploy automatically. They cannot just send the diver up there assuming these things work. This goes for chemistry; you must always test, never assume.
The article has many chemistry related topics. Almost all of the risks are related to the divers velocity, boiling point, freezing point, and height of the descent. Simple details about the freezing temperature of a human or how the blood in a humans system could boil at a certain altitude are also chem related. The scientists had to think critically about how each of the risks could effect the diver. In this way, they discussed details about each aspect. For example they knew the flat spin would occur within an area of low air pressure and to overcome this challenge they created a parachute that was specialized to open if he was rendered unconscious. Another example that dealt with air pressure was the "blood boil". In this way the blood would accumulate large air bubbles that could cause the circulation of blood to cease. They devised a full pressure suit aimed to help control the pressure exerted. A third example of how chemistry is used in this record is freezing point. There are many things that could be accomplished by this record. One thing is that in the real world, scientists can simulate ways to help planes from crashing. If they can determine ways to protect the inhabitants from temperature or other effects, they can potentially save many lives. They could develop the right technology which would allow them to deploy parachutes and other life saving attributes.
ReplyDeleteRandom post:
ReplyDeleteWe should put a balloon in liquid nitrogen, and watch as the balloon shrinks because the temperature reducing causing the pressure to reduce. Then take the balloon out and watch as it fills back up because the temperature increases. I just saw a cool youtube video and it reminded me of this blog post. Yea lol
This article over the jump has chemistry written all over. It had to do with air pressure, velocity, freezing/boiling points, all kinds of things. If this crazy dare devil breaks a world record it could give a chance to scientists to come up with new types of parachutes, compression suits, things that would help advance technology when it comes to stunts like the super high jump, or any type of traveling in mid air. This brave jump could be an advancement in science and technology.
ReplyDeleteThis article is related to chemistry in various ways. People had to study air pressure because Baumgartner's blood could potentially flow to all of his extremities and cause him to develop pseudo-elephantitis in which his hands and feet become larger. People had to study the freezing point in the atmosphere to make sure Baumgartner did not freeze to death when he plummeted to Earth. The suit he wore to perform this feat was unlike any other. This suit was full of new trinkets like parachutes and visors that helped avert tragedy. This jump was the beginning to advancement in chemistry in the sense that if a suit like the one Baumgartner wore was able to be created. How far could scientist stretch the limits of scientific research and discovery
ReplyDeleteThis article is indeed tied to chemistry in multiple ways. The article talks about atmospheric pressure, blood boiling points, freezing points, depressurization, and sonic booms. If Baumgarter enters what is called a flat spin then the blood could reach the extremities and could cause him to go blind. Also if his blood rises to much then it could cause him to be unconscious or to even die. Same for if his blood reaches 28 degrees celsius.If he were to complete the jump calculations could be taken from the suit to improve the capsule for someone to attempt the jump again with less of a risk of death. This research could forever the advance in space technology for astronauts but just technology in general.
ReplyDeleteMost the points listed in the article is chemistry related and some of the topics we have covered in class.
ReplyDeleteAtmospheric pressure plays an important part in chemistry. It can change how certain chemicals react or how much volume or if we need a certain constant temperature. Shock waves and flat spin also relate to atmospheric pressure. The g-force experienced near the sound barrier is excruciating and going into a flat spin will make all the blood flow to the extremities due to the lack of air pressure. Also, we have discussed freezing points in class. The suit needs to be made out of certain materials in order to keep Baumgater's body temperture at a safe level. The freezing points of those materials is vital too. We don't want his suit to have a high freezing point and be completely frozen at -70 degrees F.
Baumgarter's jump from 120,000 feet will definitely help the scientific community. His jump can contribute valuable data about the atmospheric pressure on the body from similar heights, how scientists can make the suit reduce the chance of flat spin, boiling blood, low body temperature, and shock waves, and also learn how to make the emergency parachut better (like automatic steering or adjusting speeds from a control center).
(Sorry if it doesn't make sense at some points, I'm tiredddddd.)