“G tolerance is degraded as a result of alcohol, fatigue, and dehydration,” they wrote. Many factors can affect an individual’s ability to withstand G-forces, some of which were outlined by the Federal Aviation Administration. As vertical G-forces are increased, we would experience, in order: loss of hues in vision, tunnel vision, blacking out (while still conscious), loss of consciousness, and death. Lack of blood in the brain means a lack of oxygen, which is a dire situation. With the development of stronger head-to-toe G’s, our bodies need to work harder and harder to try and pump blood back up to the brain, and after a while, the heart simply can’t summon enough pressure to do so. Deadly vertical G-forces go for the head since they’re aligned with the spine, these accelerations can drive blood down toward the feet, and away from the blood-needy brain. When it comes to vertical forces, the body’s second weakness comes into play: our blood pressure. Air Force pilot John Stapp, experiencing intense g-forces during a 421-mph ride as a part of an experiment to see what humans could take. It makes sense the higher the G-forces, the more weight we’re essentially laying upon our bodies. Dealing with aggressive horizontal G-forces can result in broken bones, shifting of organs, and burst blood vessels. Though we contain bones, we’re more than 60 percent water, with only a thin layer of skin protecting many soft organs like the stomach, kidneys, and liver. The danger with G-forces lies in two areas, the first of which is the fact that our body is flexible and soft. We as humans are much better at tolerating horizontal G-forces, or those that are perpendicular to the spine, than we are the head-to-toe, vertical kind. Depending on how you’re sitting, lying, or standing when you experience G-forces, they can occur front-to-back, side-to-side, or top-to-bottom - or vice-versa. These forces are capable of getting much more intense fighter pilots and astronauts, for example, often subject themselves to rapid accelerations to high speeds. Any time you speed up or slow down, they’re there (think being thrown forward against your seatbelt in a rapidly halting car, or when you experience intermittent moments of weightlessness on a theme park ride or on a flight). G-forces, short for gravitational forces, act on us a lot more than you’d probably think. But how exactly can acceleration harm us, and how fast can we go before our need-for-speed mentalities get us killed? Things Just Got Heavy Though they’re capable of providing fun, G-forces are also a formidable foe to the human body, capable of taking us out within a few seconds if we underestimate them. G-forces are a measurement of the type of acceleration that causes weight, like the kind you feel when you’re pressed into your seat during a roller coaster loop. But coaster designers can’t simply throw human bodies into high speeds with abandon - they must also carefully calculate the G-forces at work in order to make sure the coaster is safe. If you’re a roller coaster enthusiast, chances are you’ve been called a “thrill-seeker” or an “adrenaline-junkie.” But what is it about roller coasters that gives the rider a high-impact, thrilling experience? Many cite the high speeds and inversions as the reason they ride the massive metal machines, but in reality, it’s probably the acceleration into these components of the ride that truly creates the experience.
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