The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #83814   Message #1543696
Posted By: Skivee
17-Aug-05 - 01:55 AM
Thread Name: BS: Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know
Subject: RE: BS: Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know
Bobo
I really know more about this than I should.
#14 on your list is totally untrue
Astronauts fart all the time
They fart while they are ascending during launch.(did I just type "ass-ending")
This is necessary because the cabin pressure in much lower in a spacecraft and is bled down to the operating pressure as the rocket launches.
I was just reading transcripts of the Apollo 17 launch.
There is a very odd section discussing the effect suspended gases in the drinking water had on the crew.
One of them remarked that he typically would begin passing gas immediatly after eating. He noted that following one meal, he passed gas for two hours, with great volume and that his cabinmates remarked on the events.
I admired the understatement of the report.

And the bumblebee thing is bogus too. Oft repeated.
It's frequently used by fundamentalist preachers to mock arrogance of scientists
Could you imagine an aeronautical engineer really stating that bumble bees can't fly.
What was said was that the wing area of insect , when viewed as a conventional wing would not support the weight of it in flight.
The original statement was made during the 40's. It was more a puzzle than a statement..."What don't we understand about this situation,...what's wrong with our mathmatical model, since our results clearly don't match reality."
Aeronautics and applied entomology have both advanced a bit since then.
Of course, insect wings are not stationary in a smooth airflow, but use a figure 8 motion to generate downward thrust.
It's actually very elegant when seen in super s-l-o-w motion like a Bruce Lee film.