Nevertheless after having (more or less superficially) watched several Apollo videos (due to thread
Athletics Records on the Moon), I conclude that it would have been quite easy to fake such films on Earth. The fact that on the moon there is 83% weightlessness with respect to Earth does not show up in the films.
Unfortunately, by slowing down a film by factor 1/√6 we can "simulate" lunar gravity (being 1/6 of terrestrial). Both downwards and upwards accelerations are then reduced to 1/6 (and all velocities are reduced to 1/√6). That upwards accelerations of the astronauts are substantially smaller than on Earth can be explained by hinting at the mass of Apollo space suits.
When running, mass resp. inertia of space suits would have limited only acceleration and deceleration, but not achievable velocity. Yet it makes sense to assume that for safety reasons they did not run fast or jump high.
Describe what aspect of the visible behaviour of dust is accentuated by slow motion; and why it makes accusations of "faking it on a sound stage" patently silly.
Do you know a concrete example? And if yes, how do you know that what you see in such an Apollo video actually is dust which should be relevantly influenced by the atmosphere? Apart from "atmospheric friction", granular material on the moon behaves in the same way as on Earth when filmed and slowed down to 1/√6 ≈ 41%. Granular material stirred up by the lunar rover would rise six times higher on the moon than on Earth in case of identical speed.
If we throw a heavy object vertically upwards at a speed of v = 10 m/s on Earth (where g ≈ 10 m/s
2), the object will decelerate within t = 1 sec to v = 0 m/s and reach a max height of h = 5 m, since v
max = g ∙ t and h = ½ v
max ∙ t = ½ g ∙ t
2. If we did the same within lunar gravity, the object would decelerate within 6 sec from 10 m/s to 0 m/s and reach a height of 30 m.
In order to simulate such a lunar upwards throw of 30 m on Earth, we would have to use a throw-speed of √6 ∙ 10 m/s ≈ 24.5 m/s instead of 10 m/s. An increase in speed by factor √6 leads to an energy increase by factor 6, which is necessary for compensating 6 times higher potential energy at a height of 30 m.
We can transform this terrestrial vertical throw
- throw speed: √6 ∙ 10 m/s = 24.5 m/s
- deceleration: 10 m/s2
- rise time: √6 sec = 2.45 sec
- max height: 30 m
by slowing down to 1/√6 (i.e. one recording-second dilated to 2.45 viewer-seconds) to this lunar throw:
- throw speed: 10 m/s
- deceleration: 10/6 m/s2 ≈ 1.6 m/s2
- rise time: 6 sec
- max height: 30 m
It is difficult to find Apollo film sequences where it is easy to count steps or jumps and estimate speed. The astronauts avoid regular, normal movements. The best sequence of Apollo 11 I could find is from
Apollo 11 - Raw 16mm footage (uncut), from 15:00 to 21:00, especially
at 17:45.
It seems obvious that this Apollo 11 stuff has been filmed under terrestrial and not lunar gravity. The whole looks strange because it has been captured at a very low frame rate but is shown at "fast motion". The movements of the astronauts are quite unnatural (like in old films of Charlie Chaplin).
In case of Apollo 12 the problem of lunar gravity was primarily resolved in this way:
"A few minutes later Houston reported that the camera was not working. Cursory attempts at trouble-shooting were fruitless, and television coverage for the mission - desirable but not essential - had to be written off." (
Source)
An Apollo 12 astronaut, by saying "
… slow motion, that's exactly what I feel like" (
Apollo 12: Pinpoint for Science 1970 NASA, Second Moon Landing), psychologically prepares the naïve public for the slow motion solution to the problem of lunar gravity.
In case of Apollo 13 they circumvented the problem of lunar gravity by presenting a Hollywood story instead of a fake moon landing.
In the sequence starting at
18:50 of
Apollo 14 Moon Mission Onboard Camera Full the "slow motion" solution is obvious. The strange behavior with respect to the flag probably results from an attempt to distract attention away from the "slow motion" problem by promoting the "waving flag" conspiracy theory.
In any case, whereas step and jump sizes and heights on the Apollo films are comparable to corresponding values on Earth, velocities are substantially lower. On Earth we normally make two steps per second, and when running fast we make even four steps per second. The astronauts however perform only ~ 1 step or ~ 1 jump per second. Even when running they only reach speeds of ~ 2 m/s, far from what JayUtah in #33 considers a "decent velocity".
Neil Armstrong jumped 1.8 meters vertically onto the LM ladder.
If this is true then such an assisted jump makes look the other non-assisted jumps even more suspicious.
You seem to have missed the entire discussion in the '
athletic records' thread concerning friction with the surface and its effect on horizontal force generation.
Watch how easy the astronauts can move a big stone at 21:23 of
Apollo 17 launch and mission LIVE on TV.
Cheers, Wolfgang
The Apollo Space Program – A gigantic conspiracy?
