G-Force, Jerk, and Passing Out In A Centrifuge

Thanks to the Starrship team for arranging this! I'm also over on their channel, flying with the Blades: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWY3-1gOrxk • At the Royal Air Force training centrifuge in Farnbrough, pilots learn how to avoid G-LOC: g-induced loss of consciousness. Let's talk about g-force, about jerk, and about how to keep circulation flowing to your brain. FAQs: * Isn't 3.6g a really low g-tolerance? * Yep. Turns out I would not qualify to be a fighter pilot. The average range for g-tolerance is 4-6; no-one was expecting me to pass out. The centrifuge team do not deliberately try to G-LOC people! To be fair, though, I'd done a few earlier runs with only minor effects. * What g was the RAF person at the start pulling? * That's Marcus, from the Starrship team, and he was successfully pulling 6.5g with the help of g-trousers: they plug into a compressed air source in the plane (and in the centrifuge) and act as a lower-body tourniquet to keep the blood up top. They are very effective. * Why did you shake and shudder when regaining consciousness? * Those are called "myoclonic convulsions", which is a fancy medical term for "muscle jerks", and they're a common side effect of recovering from G-LOC. * What did it feel like? * I'll answer this in more detail in a video over on the Matt and Tom channel soon, but in short: I don't remember it. I was doing the breathing maneuver, then everything was wobbly, then we were stopped! * Is this a sponsored video? * No: the RAF and Starrship had no editorial control over this, and no money changed hands. Obviously, though, they gave me a spin in the centrifuge, and I'm collaborating with them over on their channel too! THANKS TO: The RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine, the Starrship team, and the folks at Qinetiq. STARRSHIP: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starrshiphope/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/starrshiphope/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/starrshiphope I'm at http://tomscott.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomscott on Facebook at http://facebook.com/tomscott and on Snapchat and Instagram as tomscottgo

DescriptionHi, I'm Tom Scott. These are some of the things I've made and done. They'll probably come back to haunt me in a few years' time. (Want to get in touch about anything? Use the "contact me" link below, not YouTube messages!)

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