Physics of a Sneeze

Ahhh Chooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

I wonder how fast mucous is flying through the air?

Why should I care?

How would I measure its speed?

Why do I sneeze?

HOW FAST ARE SNEEZES?
THE FASTEST RECORDED SNEEZE WAS 102 MILES PER HOUR. THE AVERAGE SPEED OF YOUR SNEEZE IS 90 MPH. THIS MEANS YOUR LIQUIDS ARE EXPELLED OUT OF YOUR BODY FASTER THAN A SPEEDING CAR, WELL NOT ALL SPEEDING CARS, ONLY THE ONES THAT GO LESS THAN 100 MILES PER HOUR.

WHY DO YOU SNEEZE IN THE FIRST PLACE?
A SNEEZE, OR STERNUTATION, IS STARTED WITH AN IRRITATION IN YOUR NOSE. MESSAGES ARE THEN SENT TO YOUR "SNEEZE CENTER" IN YOUR BRAIN. THEN THE "STERNUTATION" CENTER TELLS THE MUSCLES OF THE BELLY, THE DIAPHRAGM, THE EYELIDS, AND THE MUSCLES IN THE BACK OF YOUR THROAT.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE ITS SPEED?
TO MEASURE THE SPEED OF A SNEEZE YOU NEED THREE THINGS. FIRST YOU NEED A HIGH SHUTTER SPEED CAMERA, SECOND A "SNEEZER", AND LASTLY A BLACK BACKGROUND THAT HAS DISTANCES MEASURED OFF. AS THE "SNEEZER" SNEEZES, THE HIGH SPEED CAMERA CAPTURES THE DISTANCE OF THE DROPLETS FROM FRAME TO FRAME. IF YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME ELAPSES FROM EACH FRAME, THEN YOU CAN USE THE DISTANCE AND THE TIME TO GIVE THE VELOCITY OF THE SNEEZE. JOHN CAMERON OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON SAYS THAT ANOTHER METHOD COULD BE THE USE OF RADAR OR DOPPLER TO MEASURE NOT JUST A SNEEZE, BUT A COUGH AS WELL. HE SAYS THAT A COUGH CAN LEAVE YOUR BODY AT FROM 650-750 MPH, MACH 1, OR THE SPEED OF SOUND.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
SNEEZING IS JUST ONE OF MANY WAYS FOR YOUR BODY TO EXPEL FOREIGN SUBSTANCES. NOT JUST IMPORTANT FOR HEALTH REASONS, THE SNEEZE IS A SATISFYING WAY TO GET RID OF THAT TICKLE IN YOUR NOSE. BECAUSE YOU NOW KNOW THAT YOUR BODY CREATES THE FORCE OF 100 MPH, PERHAPS YOU WON'T HOLD BACK YOUR SNEEZES ANY LONGER. THINK ABOUT IT; HOLDING SNEEZES IS REPORTED TO HAVE CAUSED ANEURYSMS, STROKES, AND EVEN HEART FAILURE. BLOOD VESSELS POPPING, PEOPLE DYING, ALL BECAUSE YOU CAN SNEEZE AT 100 MPH. ALSO THE FORCE OF A SNEEZE IS SO STRONG THAT TWISTING YOUR BODY AS YOU SNEEZE, TWISTING YOUR NECK, CAN CAUSE DISKS IN YOUR NECK AND BACK TO SLIP. PAIN FROM SNEEZING!

Dear Walter:

I'm sorry I can't answer your question but I can give you some information about the speed of a cough in the major airways of the lungs. I think a cough is more important than a sneeze. In either case, I think the air that leaves the mouth has a large speed. I have read that in the major airways, the speed of the air during a cough is about mach 1, i.e., about the speed of sound. I assume they measured the speed using a Doppler or "radar" technique. A sneeze seems to be aimed at clearing out a "tickle" in the upper airways, while a cough tries to clear out a partial blockage of a major airway in the chest. Since the air is moving rapidly, you get a Bernoulli effect with significantly reduced pressure in the airways, causing them to collapse. Thus if you have something blocking an airway, the collapsing of the airway increases the chances of blockage will be dislodged and coughed out.........There is a lot of physics involved in the body. If you can find a copy of the book "Physics of the Body" by Cameron, Skofronick and Grant, you might find other interesting facts about physics in physiology.

Good Luck & Best Wishes,

John

Sources and links:

http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/K2/stn-old/archive2001/posts/September/topic412399.shtm

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/sep99/938695934.Gb.r.html

http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/seeleyap/resp/reading1.mhtml

http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/airborne.htm

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/3_24health_a.htm

Useless Information That You'll Never NEED To Know But Will Make You Sound Cool

Thomas Edison came up with the idea for a movie that watched people sneezing.

Sneezes create G-forces of 3.0 for a tenth of a second, that is comparable to the g-forces of riding a roller coaster.

That concludes our useless information.

How this project relates to our focused program of study...

(Arts and Communication)

Being such a broad area of study there are many relations between doing this project and arts and communication. First is working in groups, learning how to divide work, compromise, and execute. Secondly the presentation and the web site are communication in themselves, learning how to convey important information such as this is vital to careers in communication, or any career in general. Thirdly the "art" of creating a website, being creative within the confines of a project is also a relation to Arts and Comm.

(Health Services)

A sneeze, being such a physiological health-related topic, was easy to incorporate into this area of study. To find interview sources, for example, it was necessary to talk to different specialists in the medical profession: ENT's (ear, nose, throat), allergists, pathologists, medical physicists, etc. Through this process, we were able to get a direct glimpse into what "health services" is-- helping people become aware of possible illnesses, treating them, etc. In the creation of this website, we imparted information on a very common health issue (sternutation) and its possible effects (strong force can cause aneurysms, strokes, etc.)

Walter