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Week 12 [20.01-26.01.20] Myths about space

Myths about space


If you are an internet user you probably stumbled upon a video or a funny gif with the well known Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield (you may recognise him by his moustache). He was a commander on the International Space Station for half a year in 2012-2013. During his stay in space, he became internet famous, posting his mundane live-in-space troubles via his twitter account and answering questions on one of the most popular Reddit thread. Currently retired Chris Hadfield is still present in social media explaining science, talking about his experiences and commenting on ongoing space operations. I recently watched one of his videos regarding myths about space. I would like to kindly encourage you to watch this interesting video and answer a few questions.



  1. Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?
  2. Have you heard about any other myths about space?
  3. Which myth debugging or confirmation was most surprising to you and why?


Comments

Anton Chechel said…
Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?
Yes, I knew about the propagation of sound in a vacuum and the relativity of aging. In terms of sound, I was right, but not quite sure about aging: I believe that if a human is able to move faster then light (which sounds impossible nowadays) then aging can stop, and if he moves at a speed equal to or less than the speed of light, a person will grow old but slower.
Have you heard about any other myths about space?
Maybe. But if I heard something I don't know it was myths or I just don't remember them :)
Which myth debugging or confirming was most surprising to you and why?
For me the biggest surprise was that the space smells like a steak because I didn't even suspect and never even thought that the space could smell and also because it is just fun and interesting.
Ageing is still working on us, no matter how fast we are going, but relativity makes as age slower from the perspective of some static point. Have you watched Interstellar? It was a big part of the movie, especially visible in the ending (don't want to spoil anything so I'm not gonna tell you ;) ).

Haha, I feel you, I thought it was ridiculous, too.
I didn't know about the myths presented in the video, but i did know that in space woid there is nothing to carry out sound. I have seen in movies that you freeze in the universe so this can be passed as a myth. for me the most surprising was the hear what happens to your body inspace and the second was with the smell, especially the reason why.
Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?

Yes, I have heard about some of those myths. For most of the time I was right, but there were some surprises, like with the height of a person in space. For it was a very interesting part about the warp technology how it could be done and to be honest, I thought, that we are working on something like that.

Have you heard about any other myths about space?

Maybe yes, but unfortunately I don't remember. It is like I am reading the article or watch a video, at the end I am: "wow, this is such a cool article/video" and after some time I completely forget about it.

Which myth debugging or confirmation was most surprising to you and why?

One of the most surprising was about the smell of the space. I haven't heard about it and it was a little bit strange for me and even stranger when this myth has been approved.
1.Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?
Yes, I heard about the theory of aging, but I haven't heard about the theory of sound is interesting.

2.Have you heard about any other myths about space?
I only saw them wash in space or drink drinks, nothing more.

3.Which myth debugging or confirmation was most surprising to you and why?
Unfortunately not. As I mentioned above, I didn't know much so far.
I was also surprised that you not only freeze in space but also burn, but when Chris explained it, this makes sense.

And the second point for the stake! I have a feeling stake myth will win this!
I was also surprised that the hight change is significant enough that NASA has to take it into account while making suits and chairs! I have heard about the phenomenon itself before, I've heard that in the morning when we are well-rested, we are slightly taller than in the evening, but I've never thought about it concerning space operations.

3 points to the stake, Ladies and Gentlemen!
I was hoping for another point for the stake ;(
1. I heard about some of them. I knew that it is important to exercise in space and also i heard that we can't hear anything. That was always funny to me because in Star Wars or other science fiction movies we hear every explosion which doesn't make any sense.

2. I was interested in some science articles but there were no such informations as I remember.

3. I didn't know about the smell in space and i found it very hilarious. Astronauts must feel hungry most of the time.
1. I have heard of some of them but I can’t say I was wrong or right because when I first heard them, they were instantly confirmed or busted.
2. I can remember one myth about being able to travel through time and space using black holes.
3. I was surprised the myth about NASA working on warp speed even exists as this is surely not the thing we should prioritize with the current state of space exploration.
1. Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?

I have heard the myth that space smells like burned steak and I thought that it can’t be true. Well, seems that I was wrong.

2. Have you heard about any other myths about space?
Actually, no. All of the myths that I have ever heard about were mentioned in Chris’s video. He actually covered everything I wanted to know.

3. Which myth debugging or confirmation was most surprising to you and why?
As I have mentioned earlier – I was surprised that the “burned steak myth” turned out to be true but what was the most interesting to me about that was how Chris explained how it is possible.
Kyrylo said…
There is a book "Байконур. Прыжок в космическую бездну" -- "Baikonur. A jump into Space abyss" by one of the first astronauts ever -- Gennadiy Ponomaryov. A great piece of history about Soviet development into space, how classical Russian negligence did not ruin everything (although spoiler: it tried really hard), and many myths about space being either confirmed or dissolved. Not sure if it is translated, but it should. Personally I was astounded of how little is known about space for a regular person despite all that info not being classified but widely published.
Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?
I heard that space smells like beacon. It seems like it was kinda true. The rest of the things was new to me. But i really enjoy mr Headfield talking about space.

Have you heard about any other myths about space?
I dont thikn so. Im not into space at all.

Which myth debugging or confirmation was most surprising to you and why?
I guess about human body streching in space. It seems prety logical but still that scientist have to take it as a parameter in designing everything for the crew up there.
Anna Moskalenko said…
Yes, sure, there are much more myths about space that the ones Chris Hadfield mentioned in this video. I’ve seen also quite a few videos with him doing some funny experiments in the spaceship. I’ve heard of some, the one with the human body freezing for example, but it is pretty obvious that it’s not that easy and that you cannot freeze a human body without damaging it permanently and fatally.
I’ve heard that you can’t cry in space, but Chris Hadfield explained in the other video that it’s not completely true, because you can actually cry, but water behaves strangely in space, so tears won’t run down your face. They’ll just stay near the eyeballs.
I’ve never heard that space smells like burnt steak and never thought about it so I was surprised to hear that it is actually kinda true! After his explanation though (that the smell is from the spaceship, I mean from the impact of the space to the spaceship) it seems pretty logical and even kind of obvious.
Angelika Dutt said…
I have heard about many of the myths presented in the video, but unfortunately I find it hard to believe them because they are too abstract for me. Unfortunately, I am by nature a person who has little confidence and does not believe in things I have not seen.

Probably in my school days when I was attending physics classes I heard many different myths about the space, but unfortunately I don't remember any of them.

I was very surprised that space has a smell. I was completely convinced that there is no smell!
Ivan Mazuryk said…
1. Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?
Yes, but I was sure that this was the myths, so I do not need the austonaut to proofe that we can not exceed the speed of lite for example novedays at least. The video is rather for fun on my opinion and it can not be used as science video.
2.Have you heard about any other myths about space?
I do not know, I think I do not.
3. Which myth debugging or confirmation was most surprising to you and why?
Maybe about the smell. That is all.
I heard about some of these myths, for example, about the theory of aging, I think, like most people, I was right. Unfortunately, I am interested in practically this topic at all, so I don't know much about space.
2. As I mentioned earlier, I don't know much about this topic, so everything I once heard was contained in this material.
3. I can't determine which exactly the myth I liked the most, they were all interesting to me. If I had to choose it, it will be the myth of smell in space.
Oh, good point about Star Wars!

Haha, they probably did! Especially when they have only what they brought from earth. So if they would crave Oreos... tough luck.

4th point to stakes!

Black holes are an interesting subject. Unfortunately, we know too little of them to debug any myths, who knows, maybe we will use them somehow in the future?

I think looking for a way to be faster was always on the NASA to-do list ;)
5th point to the burned stake smell. It amazes almost everyone!
Have you ever heard of any of those myths? If you have, were you right about it?

Yes, I heard about some of them, but mostly it was very interesting, thank you for the postings. I would say it is like 50/50. I liked how it was explained and presented.

Have you heard about any other myths about space?

No, most of the myths, which I know were presented in this video. It was very interesting and I have learned a lot of new staff. I think I will search for more videos like this.

Which myth debugging or confirmation was most surprising to you and why?

I think the most surprising was the smell of space. It was a little bit strange and I thought it is a lie, but then it was confirmed. Moreover, the myth about height was quite interesting.
Oh what a sweet typo, I'm imagining the beacons of Rohan in space now *-*

Yes, I totally agree. As I said before, I knew about the fact that we stretch but not how significant the growth is!
Oh, wow. I didn't know about the crying! Pretty obvious when you think about it, but still a cool fact!

Yes! 6th point to the stake smell!
7th point already, I love this myth and how surprised you all are about it.
Well, yeah, it has kind of an American approach: explain everything because your listener is rather stupid. But not everybody is familiar with physics and can figure out those things by themselves. And also the video is fun :)

8th point to the stakes!
You have build quite a suspense there, while I was hoping for more stake points! So there it is, the 9th point!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! Chris Hadfield has made a ton of videos so you will have plenty to choose from :)

Same as me, I was sure it was nonsense but it rendered to be true!

Btw, 10th points to the stake smell myth. It is 10 out of 14 so I'm very pleased about the result!

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