This podcast explores the physics of lightning strikes, the effects of prolonged space travel on blood vessels and erectile dysfunction, the impact of fear on the body's fight or flight response, looking into the past through light travel time, and the differences in falling impact between humans and insects.
Lightning strikes result from static charge in clouds creating electric field leading to thunder.
Extended space travel can accelerate aging of blood vessels causing potential health issues.
Deep dives
How Lightning and Thunder are Created
When lightning strikes, it is the result of tiny particles in clouds becoming statically charged, where negative particles gravitate towards the bottom of the cloud and positive particles towards the top. This charge imbalance creates an electric field between the cloud and the earth's surface, leading to ionization of the air when the electric field reaches a high voltage threshold. The resulting lightning bolt discharges massive amounts of energy and heats the surrounding air to 30,000 to 40,000 degrees, creating a shockwave that causes the sound of thunder.
Effects of Space Travel on Blood Vessels
Astronauts spending extended periods in space may experience accelerated aging of blood vessels due to physiological changes caused by space travel. The impact on blood vessels can lead to the development or worsening of atherosclerosis, a condition that increases the risk of erectile dysfunction. Exposure to cosmic radiation and effects of microgravity are speculated as contributing factors to the aging and damage of blood vessels in space.
Implications of Perception Speed and Light Travel in Observing Distant Objects
Our perception involves processing visual signals with a delay, reflecting the time taken for our brains to register stimuli. When observing distant objects in space, such as stars, the finite speed of light means that the light reaching us has traveled vast distances and can display objects as they appeared in the past due to the time it took for the light to travel to Earth. Although theoretically possible to capture light and observe past events, it remains highly challenging in practice due to technological limitations.
What causes the noise in a lightning strike? How do astronauts' bodies change after a long time in space? Can you die of fright? Are we living in the past? Why don't insects get hurt when they fall? Dr Chris Smith and Relebogile Mabotja have all the answers... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists
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