In the film Mission to Mars (released in 2000), the spacecraft (Fig. P5.60) features a rotating section to provide artificial gravity for the long voyage. A physicist viewing a scene from the interior of the spacecraft notices that the diameter of the rotating portion of the ship is about five times the height of an astronaut walking in that section (or about 10 m). Later, in a scene showing the spacecraft from the exterior, she notices that the living quarters of the ship rotate with a period of about 30 s. Did the movie get the physics right? Compare the centripetal acceleration of a 1.7-m-tall astronaut at his feet to that at his head. Compare these accelerations to g.

Figure P5.60

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