Flight drops of water in microgravity on the ISS Bashny.Net

This weekend the community of "What's the magic ?!" site Reddit встало on the ears because of the unpretentious GIF-animation . It is a drop of water, which is like a small planet circling around a knitting needle in microgravity.

The scientific explanation for this phenomenon is indeed some interest.

This is the same "SIFCO».



Experiment with water drop put 2012 Astronaut Donald Pettit (Donald Pettit) on board the International Space Station as part of a series of scientific -populyarnyh physical experiments NASA Science off the Sphere . Although the trajectory of the drop is somewhat similar to the orbit of the cosmic body, in fact, does not appear here, gravitational forces, and the forces of electrostatic attraction.

At the beginning of the experiment Donald Pettit rubbed plastic needle on a sheet of paper to create an electrical charge. He then using a syringe with a Teflon tip squeezed a few drops of water - and they began to circle around the spokes of a strange spiral trajectory.

The trajectory of the drop is determined by the electric field, the charge is formed in the spokes. A drop of water gained momentum during extrusion from the syringe, but can not fly because of the electrostatic attraction.

During the experiment, astronaut explains the physics of the process.



This simple experiment can serve as an illustration, for example, the movement of satellites around the planet, or the motion of charged solar wind particles that enter the Earth's magnetosphere.

Interestingly, expression of similar forces of electrostatic attraction can be seen in ordinary terrestrial conditions. For example, if electrify a plastic cup and to bring the jet of water from a tap, as shown on the video approximately 1 min 45 sec.



Source: geektimes.ru/post/262052/