Missile Offensive User ID: 12318469 United Kingdom 03/11/2012 06:07 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Watch drops of water in space ‘orbit’ a knitting needle like tiny planets This just blew my mind.... Source: [ link to www.liveleak.com] Ever wonder what planets would look like orbiting a cylindrical sun? Now, thanks to the magic of electric charge, microgravity, and awesome astronaut Don Pettit, you can see for yourself. Watch tiny liquid planets 'orbit' a knitting needle, and find out why they do. Some days it's hard to recognize that the world is a wondrous place and life is beautiful. Other days, there are experiments like this. Don Pettit, on the International Space Station, is conducting science demonstrations and this one is incredible, giving us a look at orbiting planets in microcosm (although technically the forces at work are somewhat different from those happening with planets). Key to all of this is a lack of significant gravity. Any real downward force would not allow the watery 'planets' to float free around the needle. First the knitting needle is charged up with paper. The needles is made of teflon, so rubbing it causes it to acquire a negative charge, grabbing electrons from the paper. Meanwhile the water droplets are shot out of a syringe, losing their electrons along the way and acquiring a positive charge.(more) see link.... Any thoughts......???????? MO. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 3115472 United States 03/11/2012 06:43 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Watch drops of water in space ‘orbit’ a knitting needle like tiny planets Wow, this looks a lot the the helical orbits Leedskalnin describes. Check out the animations on this page: [ link to www.leedskalnin.com] |