Monday, October 8, 2012

Chem Article Review #1


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.

URL
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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/07/leap-faith-5-ways-skydiving-120000-feet-can-kill/print#ixzz28jYHuXlR

24 comments:

  1. The helium balloon could be.lighter than the air and he could not fall to the ground and he could stay floating in the air.

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  2. It's chemistry related because they have to calculate all the numbers and make sure that their answers are absolutely correct so the sky diver doesn't die.
    This record breaking even will benifit science because they created a suit that is suitable for people to skydive safely through the top of the stratosphere. They would be able to survive through temperatures up to -90 degrees.
    -Sara Hamblin

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  3. What could go wrong- that's easy enough to answer as for the great amount of speed the skydiver will be reaching possible fast enough to tear him to pieces. How is this chemistry related? The article mentioned different gases and pressures. If he survived this he scientifically SURVIVED even with all odds against him.

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  4. This chemestry related becaus they have to kno all the numbers so the sky diver dont fall twards the earth and die if the record werr broken more people would kno they created a suit that was safe and he could survive.

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  5. because calculate his mass so they know what how to make his suit and so they can tell how long he has. Also if he breaks the record he's lucky to be alive. But the scientist will know that they have measured right and then they will try to go further. They will also get to know that the suit helped and that the suit maybe one of the reasons he survived.

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  6. Scientifically, many things could be accomplished by breaking this record. Such as creating a suit that can withstand extremely cold temperatures and can shield the person wearing the suit of sound barriers. This suit could even be used in space and would be effective in protecting astronauts. Another thing that could be accomplished is the ability to further the study of sound barriers in the atmosphere first hand.

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  7. This artical is chemistry related because of the earth and its atmosphere. Scientiest have to know everything about the air pressure, how fast the diver will be falling at, how high he'll start and end at. There's a lot of calculation that scientist have to be completely sure about before they make this attmept so the tester(sky diver) doesn't get serverly hurt or killed. Also, they need to know the temperture and how colld it will be and the change in between the temp. at a higher altitude. They needed to find away so that the driver couldn't freeze from the fall. It'll be interesting to see this be successful.

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  8. this is chemistry related because they will have to know what effect does the temperature has or the low level of oxygen

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  9. How is this chemistry related? The normal body temperature for a human is 37 degrees Celsius. When the sky diver drops, he will experience cold temperatures.When his body can no longer maintain the normal body temperature, he may become unconscious. He will die when his body drops below 21 degrees Celsius.

    What will be accomplished scientifically by breaking this record? To have the sky diver alive after the successful skydiving of 120,000 feet using a well developed experiment.

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  10. This is related to chemisty because this is one big experiment. They are going to use MANY scientific laws and formulas to try and predict what will happen every second the skydiver is in the air so hopefully he can return to the ground safely. Scientifically, a lot will be accomplished by breaking this record. Not only are they preforming this experiment for pure research but they can apply the knowledge they obtain to improve human technology.

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  11. Of course it's related to chemistry. If it's happening on Earth, it can relate to chemistry. More specifically, because it involves the stratosphere,which where most of our ozone naturally forms. The suit could be useful technology for when another ice age happens, or if Earth's atmosphere is depleted (but then the suit would also have to stop radiation, and someone allow us to not fall into space.)

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  12. Breaking the sound barrier by skydiving from 120,000 ft in the atmosphere is relating to chemistry by gravity, velocity, and speed of sound. When deploying the parachute air resistance will decrease the speed of the falling rate. The gravity will pull down until you reach the ground.

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  13. This is related to chemistry because they are using many formulas and calculating things. What can be accomplished by breaking this record is they can find out a successful and safe way to sky dive. It also figures out a way a sky diver can be suited properly so nothing bad will happen to him/her.

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  14. This man skydiving from 120,000 has lots to do with chemistry. Scientists have to study the forces of the Earth and how they would effect his body. His protective gear has to accommodate his body and keep him safe from the Earth's harsh weather that is present at the altitude that he is diving from. Scientists have also discovered what happens to humans when they are exposed to sudden cold temperatures and how the air pressure effects the body, which are some of the many hazards that are existent within this dive. Basically, chemistry is related to Felix's skydive because it prepares him for the risks that he is jumping into. Without chemistry, we wouldn't know what Felix's body would do when descending back to Earth from 120,000 feet.
    Breaking this record would accomplish, scientifically, new knowledge on how much the human body can endure. Also, it could help manufacture new, more protective gear that can be beneficial to skydivers who plan on jumping from extreme altitudes.

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  15. This article is Chemistry related because they have to know what is in the atmosphere that he will be diving along with what to make the suit that will protect him, what should it be made out of and how that material will react with the earths atmosphere. Along with knowing how much helium to put in the balloon so that he doesn't go plummeting into the ground.

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  16. The things that could go wrong are, low pressure, low temperature and acceleration. When you're that high in the air, it could possibly get very cold, which is why he must wear some kind of suit. He's also going to need some kind of oxygen supply because once you get so far in the air, you can barely breathe.

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  17. This is chemistry related because in order for this experiment to be a success they need to take many precautions. Some precautions include making sure the suit is able to with stand very low temperatures, the suit also has to withstand any kind of pressure present in the atmosphere. If the skydiver doesn't take the right precautions many factors can lead to his death.

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  18. this blog is related to chemistry because you can calculate his mass, his force on earth has alot to do with his mass as well. There had to be a right amount of protection on the man so he would not die, this experiment is related to chemistry by using an hypothesis, conclusion, experiment & observations.

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  19. Something thay be accomplished, is that the scientist's succeeded and they found things that could possibly go wrong and they fixed everything, they made sure he had enough oxygen and he was very well protected.

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  20. Accomplishing this, Scientist will now know sending someone to space and something going wrong, they can possibly survive the fall. They know know that the sound barrier can be broken from a very high altitude.

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  21. This article is chemistry related in many ways. There are so many things that could go wrong with perfoming this. For example how the air pressure would affect his body and also the force, and how fast he is going. They need to make sure that he has enough oxygen and that his suit is able to fit with everything. Reffering back to the article with the low pressure and him being that high up in the air, and then him comming back down, the blood could of rushed to his head, arms, and legs and he could've exploded if he was doing a flat. spin. Scientifically acomplished is that they know forsure that the sound barrier can be broken.

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  22. This article is related to chemistry because they are doing a major experiment. They are using formulas to calculate how he would land correctly and how it can prevent the problems they will have. Having the sky diver alive and the sound barrier be broken can be some of the scientific accomplishments.

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  23. An accomplishment of this event would just be the fact that we now know a person can survive from a fall that far up in space. If private company's do start using space travel in the future they will now be able to know that if the shuttle has a malfunction, they will have a safe chance of making it back to Earth alive.

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  24. Chemistry is related. The body has a normal temperature of 90 degrees F. When skydiving he will get colder. He may even begin to black out! But that is only if his body temperature gets to low.

    This will accomplish scientifically is knowing that people can survive a 120,000 skydive. So we can let people take ships into space.

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