History Main / CentrifugalGravity

* ''Reach'' by Edward Gibson. The Wayfarer 2 sent to the far reaches of the solar system is actually two vessels joined by a tether which are then spun.

* A rotating space station is depicted in the 1959 children's book [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will_Go_to_the_Moon_%28book%29 You Will Go to the Moon]] by Mae and Ira Freeman

* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' rotates to provide this.

* The eponymous {{space station}} ''Series/BabylonFive'' is an O'Neill Cylinder--a kind of spinning cylindrical space station. Earth Alliance destroyers and Explorer ships have a pair of spinning "arms" around the center, so that at least the crew quarters and mess areas can have gravity. Meanwhile, more advanced races such as the Centauri and Minbari have ArtificialGravity, and everyone else without it [[BoringButPractical uses seatbelts]].

Currently this is the only way humans have to generate gravity where there ordinarily would be none, or a negligible amount [[note]]The only other way consistent with established physics is to accelerate at a rate comparable to or higher than Earth's gravity. Rockets do this for a few minutes at launch, but ''sustained'' high acceleration is beyond any existing propulsion technology.[[/note]]. While it is most often found in connection with {{Ringworld Planet}}s, it is not limited to them, and the shape of the ship or habitat is irrelevant to whether this trope is in use or not.

* Earthclan's ships in the ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' series have a rotating ring section, even after obtaining ArtificialGravity from the Galactic Library. Partially because they don't fully trust the Library and partially to remind the Galactics of their status as un-uplifted "Wolflings". Unfortunately this means that most of the dry[[note]]the dolphin crew don't mind null-g much[[/note]] rooms on the ''Streaker'' are upside-down or sideways whenever they're grounded.

** Earth's original stepping stone to the stars, MEL-One[[note]]'''M'''oon-Earth '''L'''agrange point '''One'''[[/note]] spins to generate its gravity. As a historical landmark, except for the crew quarters it retains centrifugal gravity.

* ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''. Hugo Drax's secret space station spins on its axis, providing gravity to those inside. However, Drax's space station was not cylindrical, rather it had a roughly spherical central portion with long appendages sticking out. When it "spins up", gravity is uniform everywhere, and directed towards the "floor" of the main area, when in reality it would vary enormously depending on where in the station you were, and would be directed away from the axis of rotation.When Film/JamesBond stops the rotation, the station interior goes to zero gravity and everyone starts floating around.
* Parodied in ''Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000TheMovie'', which opens with Mike Nelson running along a circular track... which turns out to be a man-sized hamster wheel, complete with hanging water bottle.
* The ''[[http://i1.wp.com/www.cgmeetup.net/home/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Passengers-Official-Trailer-6.jpg?resize=1024%2C587 Avalon]]'' in ''Film/{{Passengers|2016}}'' consists largely of three curved arms in an outwards spiral formation that spin to provide gravity. The elevators that go between sections go without gravity at points. [[spoiler: When the power fails temporarily the ship stops spinning and things all over start floating, totally ignoring the laws of inertia.]]
* ''Film/RedPlanet'' has two rotating sections on the main ship. The sections rotate in opposite directions in order to counteract each other's force. Otherwise, the ship itself would rotate.

* Possibly the most famous example is the space station from ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. In addition, both the ''Discovery'' and the ''Alexei Leonov'' from ''2010'' have rotating sections.

* In ''Film/MissionToMars'', the main space ship seems to have this.

* The ''Amaterasu'' of ''Anime/StarshipOperators'' has a rotating crew section, the showers have signs warning about Coriolis forces.

Usually appears in works high on the MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness.

** Unlike most other examples, the books actually do address the issues of coriolis and its NauseaFuel properties. It specifically mentions that moving closer to the center of a spinning station causes you to feel less gravity and more coriolis, and that people who aren't used to the sensation often find it quite disorienting and nauseating.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'' series (up to ''VideoGame/EliteDangerous'') features this in its {{Space Station}}s, as artificial gravity is nonexistent. Their spin makes docking difficult, as pilots must match the spin or crash into the airlock.

* ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''. Hugo Drax's secret space station spins on its axis, providing gravity to those inside. When Film/JamesBond stops the rotation, the station interior goes to zero gravity and everyone starts floating around.
** However, Drax's space station was not cylindrical, rather it had a roughly spherical central portion with long appendages sticking out. When it "spins up", gravity is uniform everywhere, and directed towards the "floor" of the main area, when in reality it would vary enormously depending on where in the station you were, and would be directed away from the axis of rotation.

* Possibly one of the oldest examples: "The Wheel" in George Pal's 1955 movie ''Film/ConquestOfSpace'', which is basically a space station built in the shape of a wheel to allow the crew artificial gravity. Outside "The Wheel" and on the spaceship, the characters are weightless and have to rely on magnetic boots.
* The ''[[CoolSpaceship Endurance]]'' of ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' includes a spinning ring of modules where the astronauts spend most of their time.
* The ''Venture Star'' in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' has a centrifuge section; the only scene aboard it, though, takes place in a free fall zone.
* Like the novel, the Hermes in ''Film/TheMartian'' sports CentrifugalGravity for the long journey between Earth and Mars. Unlike other depictions, the astronauts are shown floating freely about the center of the ship, only experiencing the increasing pull of shipboard gravity as they descend via ladder into the spinning section.
* The ship in ''Film/DisneysRocketMan'' also has this type of gravity, with several sections spinning around a central node, connected by cables (see the RealLife proposal below). Strangely enough, gravity goes from zero to normal in a split second, causing the protagonist to drop instantly. In fact, it would take a long time to "spin up" to anything even remotely like normal Earth gravity. Near the end, the protagonist and his LoveInterest are dancing. The Commander disengages the gravity, and they're shown dancing on a wall and on the ceiling, which isn't how weightlessness works.
* The ''[[http://i1.wp.com/www.cgmeetup.net/home/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Passengers-Official-Trailer-6.jpg?resize=1024%2C587 Avalon]]'' in ''Film/{{Passengers|2016}}'' consists largely of three curved arms in an outwards spiral formation that spin to provide gravity. The elevators that go between sections go without gravity at points. [[spoiler: When the power fails temporarily the ship stops spinning and things all over start floating, totally ignoring the laws of inertia.]]

* The eponymous {{space station}} ''Series/BabylonFive'' is an O'Neill Cylinder--a kind of spinning cylindrical space station. Earth Alliance destroyers and Explorer ships have a pair of spinning "arms" around the center, so that at least the crew quarters and mess areas can have gravity. Meanwhile, more advanced races such as the Centauri and Minbari have ArtificialGravity, and everyone else without it [[BoringYetPractical uses seatbelts]].

** The space station Credomar is a cylinder designed to make use of this, but it's considered to be so inefficient that it's a mystery why anyone would build a space station like that. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that Credomar wasn't really a space station, but a WaveMotionGun turned into a space station to prevent its use as a weapon.]]

[[folder:fan Works]]

** AdtificialGravity is generally inconsistent in ''Cowboy Bebop'', with some characters standing with no obvious magnetic boots while other people or objects float in midair beside them.

* ''Webcomic/LeavingTheCradle'' haves only one ship with artificial gravity. It is a humongous mothership several kilometers in length with large spinning barrel taking up significant percentage of it's mass.

* The eponymous ''Series/BabylonFive'' is a small [[SpaceStation O'Neill Cylinder]]--a kind of spinning cylindrical space station. Babylons 1-4 were of the same design, but larger. Earth Alliance destroyers and Explorer ships have a pair of spinning "arms" around the center. Meanwhile, more advanced races such as the Centauri and Minbari have ArtificialGravity, and everyone else without it [[BoringYetPractical uses seatbelts.]]
** Those Earth Alliance spinning "arms" are there for crew spaces (e.g. quarters, mess, sickbay). TheBridge is actually located in a central, less exposed area, and is zero-g, so everyone still straps in. The only Earth warships to feature ArtificialGravity are the new ''Warlock''-class destroyers and, even by the time of ''Series/{{Crusade}}'', there are only 50 of those in operation.
** According to the fluff, the "spinning arms" are a fairly recent introduction, the bugs having been worked out just before the outbreak of the Earth-Minbari War. The two previous EF workhorses (''Hyperion''-class heavy cruiser and ''Nova''-class dreadnought) only operate in microgravity. The ''Omega''-class destroyers, mass-produced after the end of the war, are, basically, ''Nova''e with spinning arms and different weapons. Only four prototypes were built by the time the war began, and all were destroyed in the first battle of the war (which lasted [[CurbStompBattle all of 12 seconds]]).
** The station's gravity has some interesting consequences. Sections near the core of the station have less gravity than those near the outer hull (so species used to lower gravity tend to be assigned quarters towards the core). The centreline of the station where the transport system runs is effectively zero-gravity and requires people to use hand rails at all times. When a transport is destroyed in the core and its occupant is forced to jump from it, said occupant is also effectively weightless, but drifting towards the outer walls of the station thanks to his momentum (this incident took place in a part of the station with a large open space to provide a sizeable garden). If not rescued before making contact with the hull, the station's angular momentum would hit him as if he jumped from a car travelling at motorway speeds and would almost certainly be fatal.

* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' most space stations are the ring type. The Bebop and many other ships have rotating sections and no gravity anywhere else on board.