History Main / CentrifugalGravity

* Literature/TheCulture of [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]'s novels builds Ringworld-style Orbitals (but smaller) as housing for many of its citizens. They have a few full size, fits-round-a-star Ringworlds, too, but they're much rarer, since you can get more usable area by using the same mass to build orbitals so most of the Culture regards them as tacky.

* The Creator/AnneMcCaffrey and Creator/SMStirling novel ''Literature/TheCityWhoFought'' takes place entirely on a cylindrical space station.

** ''Literature/TheRollingStones1952'' he has an apparently non-symmetric space ship use this, mocked as a “tumbling pigeons”.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

Usually appears in hard science fiction; in softer works you can get away with generating ArtificialGravity by throwing enough AppliedPhlebotinum at the problem, instead. (Which also tends to be easier to film or animate... Not every production can afford to build a giant centrifuge for its actors to walk around in ''à la'' ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]''!)

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

The biggest obstacle to this trope in RealLife is the impracticality of making large enough centrifuges. Your ears are very good at sensing motion and gravity (it's how you balance) and while you're being spun around in a small centrifuge, you're subject to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect Coriolis Effect]], and so if you happen to turn your head to look left or right, you'd feel nauseous (as many who have ridden in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitron Gravitron]] could tell you). The benefits of gravity simply didn't justify the extravagant cost that designing a spinning space station would require. [[note]]Especially considering they'd have to design it to handle emergency situations that would necessitate the station to ''stop'' moving; in other words, ''everything'' would have to be designed to operate in two modes. This would have made the project several hundreds to several thousands of times more expensive than it already would be.[[/note]] UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} [[WeAllLiveInAmerica and other space programs]] simply weren't willing to design what would essentially be a multi-billion dollar failure-prone space puke bucket. This being said, a modest reduction in the cost of building a station would make this worthwhile for very large stations that could turn more slowly (which would also not run into the nausea issue as much); however, there is nothing today to make such large stations possible or desirable.

Currently this is the only way humans have to generate gravity where there ordinarily would be none, or a negligible amount. 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. While it is most often found in connection with {{Ring World 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.

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

* 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.

** ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' claimed that the ''Pillar of Autumn'' starship had cylindrical rotating sections within it to create gravity, but these are never seen in gameplay and the encountered layout does not seem to fit them. In general, while early UNSC ships and stations used this trope, current models have [[ArtificialGravity actual gravity generators]].

* {{Implied}} in ''LightNovel/RebornAsASpaceMercenaryIWokeUpPilotingTheStrongestStarship''. It isn't directly discussed, but the first SpaceStation Hiro visits upon waking up inside ''Stella Online'' is a bicycle-wheel-style design with buildings built along the interior rim.

** ''Literature/TheRollingStones'' he has an apparently non-symmetric space ship use this, mocked as a “tumbling pigeons”.

* The Polaris space hotel in ''Series/ForAllMankind'' has a rotating ring. A space debris incident causes the thrusters to fire continuously and the ring to spin faster, resulting in crushing G-forces until the problem is resolved. Later, it is made part of an interplanetary Mars ship called ''Phoenix''.

* All starships and {{Space Station}}s in the Literature/AllianceUnion and ''Literature/{{Foreigner}}'' universes of Creator/CJCherryh use this, as her sci-fi is on the "hard" end of the scale.

Currently this is the only way humans have to generate gravity where there ordinarily would be none, or a negligible amount. 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. 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.

Note that in RealLife, this isn't yet practical, as being in a centrifuge can be NauseaFuel for many people, as many who have ridden in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitron Gravitron]] could tell you. Though a larger cylinder wouldn't need to spin as quickly and thus would be easier on the body, making the main obstacle construction.

The biggest obstacle to this trope in RealLife is our sense of motion. Your ears are very good at sensing motion and gravity (it's how you balance) and while you're being centrifuged, you're subject to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect Coriolis Effect]], and so if you happen to turn your head to look left or right, you'd be so overcome with motion sickness you'd throw up. The benefits of gravity simply didn't justify the extravagant cost that designing a spinning space station would require. Especially considering they'd have to design it to handle emergency situations that would necessitate the station to ''stop'' moving; in other words, ''everything'' would have to be designed to operate in two modes. This would have made the project several hundreds to several thousands of times more expensive than it already would be. UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} [[WeAllLiveInAmerica and other space programs]] simply weren't willing to design what would essentially be a multi-billion dollar failure-prone space puke bucket. This being said, a modest reduction in the cost of building a station would make this worthwhile for very large stations that could turn more slowly (which would also thus not run into the puke issue as much); however, there is nothing today to make such large stations possible or desirable.

* Practically the only means of simulating gravity in ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm''. There are even Banks Orbitals, though system-encompassing rings are impossible to construct. The archailects might be able to produce ArtificialGravity with spacetime engineering but they generally don't because it would be too inefficient (ex. a small black hole).

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheSteelTroops'': This is how Zanda Claus, a HumongousMecha piloted by the gang, managed to maintain it's interior gravity. The trope is actually mentioned by name; the gang is seated in the cockpit located in the robot's stomach area, and as Shizuka asks why "aren't they feeling dizzy" while the robot is performign summersaults, Doraemon then replies "the robot probably have it's own centrifugal gravity system" before explaining what it meant.

* In ''Series/TheExpanse'', constant thrust and centrifugal force are the only two sources of artificial gravity. Celestial bodies, like Cere and Eros, are artificially spun-up to generate gravity while stations, like ''Tycho'', and some ships, like the ''Nauvoo'', use spinning drums.

* 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. More advanced races such as the Centauri and Minbari have ArtificialGravity, and everyone else without it [[BoringButPractical uses seatbelts]].

* ''VideoGame/{{FTLFasterThanLightMultiverse FTL Multiverse}}'', a mod for ''VideoGame/{{FTLFasterThanLight}}'', has the Kasparov-Class, an antiquated human-built spaceship that was the first class to ever make an FTL Jump. Older than most tech in the setting, it lacks artificial gravity and instead uses a centrifuge ring.

* ''VideoGame/{{FTLFasterThanLightMultiverse}}'', a mod for ''VideoGame/{{FTLFasterThanLight}}'', has the Kasparov-Class, an antiquated human-built spaceship that was the first class to ever make an FTL Jump. Older than most tech in the setting, it lacks artificial gravity and instead uses a centrifuge ring.

* ''VideoGame/{{FTLMultiverse}}'', a mod for ''VideoGame/{{FTLFasterThanLight}}'', has the Kasparov-Class, an antiquated human-built spaceship that was the first class to ever make an FTL Jump. Older than most tech in the setting, it lacks artificial gravity and instead uses a centrifuge ring.

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* While it is typical to see a spacecraft mount a separate spinning unit for centrifugal gravity ("[[FanNickname pencil through donut]]"), it is possible to skip the moving parts and spin up the whole craft (a "tumbling pigeon" design), with the tricky bit being pointing an antenna at Earth all the while.

Usually appears in works high on the MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness; in softer works you can get away with generating ArtificialGravity by throwing enough AppliedPhlebotinum at the problem, instead. (Which also tends to be easier to film or animate... Not every production can afford to build a giant centrifuge for its actors to walk around in ''à la'' ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]''!)