What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]

http://boingboing.net/2013/04/18/what-happens-when-you-wring-ou.html

by morphics • 13 years ago

656 109 13 years ago

jheimark• 13 years ago

space is amazing.

eridius3• 13 years ago

I thought just watching the microphone float in front of him was interesting enough. I was totally not prepared for the awesomeness of the wrung-out washcloth.

noselasd3• 13 years ago

NASA TV, http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html, Lot's interesting space things there. Their youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision channel is also full of fun things.

sksksk• 13 years ago

I always wonder, if you spend a length of time in space, you must get used to being able to leave an object in mid air, go do something, and go back and pick it up later.

When astronauts come back to earth, do they have some adjusting period where they keep dropping items on the floor because they forget about gravity?

NegativeK3• 13 years ago

Every time I watch one of those videos, I imagine how annoying it must be to not be able to release something with zero drift.

If I'm ever allowed to be a space tourist, I suspect I'd spend hours just trying to get something to stop drifting relative to the cabin. And then play with water.

dredmorbius• 13 years ago

I recall one astronaut addressing this. He'd been on several Shuttle / ISS missions. After his first return to Earth, he was sleeping and, as I recall, his son had climbed into bed with the astronaut and his wife. The astronaut tried to reposition his son by simply pushing him away and releasing him, which didn't work so well.

After multiple trips, his adaptation to zero-g / full-g became much more automatic.

Similar, animals used in zero-g experiments seem to adapt to multiple trips. A female mouse learned how to scoot her infants in zero-g.

One article touching on some of this (though I'm remembering another): http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/adapting-to-eart...

ddalex• 13 years ago

Why aren't they concerned about water floating up to the electrical panels ?

How do they get dry ? Centrifuges ?

kvprashant2• 13 years ago

There were so many wires and electronics in the background and the water was floating everywhere! Nothing to worry?

ygra2• 13 years ago

Someone in the comments on that site posted the following video that details how they clean up spills:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hj3GnPRsJ4

In short: Tissues of various sizes which can then be hanged somewhere and evaporate the water.

ryalfalpha• 13 years ago

Today I learned the ISS has baby-wipes aboard it.

ufmace• 13 years ago

Interesting... I was just wondering that after seeing the first video - yeah, that's cool, but what are they going to do now with a soaking washcloth and drops of water floating around all over the place?

ry0ohki• 13 years ago

All those random messy wires in the background really stressed me out.

noselasd3• 13 years ago

The ISS is really packed with lots and lots and lots of things. Here's a tour of the space station: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afBm0Dpfj_k

The first half hour, I though "Cool" about pretty much everything, after that my head's starting to hurt thinking about all the things the astronauts need to know where is, what is, how it works, what to do.

lifeisstillgood3• 13 years ago

I did a talk yesterday with one of those headset radio mics, and all through that video I kept thinking "I want a floating microphone next time".

No matter what you say, a floating microphone will hold the audience :-)

ozh• 13 years ago

No matter what you say, anything floating around you holds the audience. If I were an astronaut, I would just spend all day to goof and play around with everything possible :)

dasil003• 13 years ago

His watch tripped me out.

sjh• 13 years ago

I wonder whether, after he returns to Earth, Cmdr Hadfield will expect things to hang in the air for him; looks habit-forming.

nooneelse• 13 years ago

That, and I wonder if he will get bummed out looking at something on a really high shelf, or a cobweb up in an unreachable corner. The old muscle memory quickly telling him how much force to kick off from the floor with to get there. And then his higher brain realizing that he is stuck to the floor. Like a 3-d prisoner forever trapped in Flatland.

lifeisstillgood3• 13 years ago

Just be careful if he hands you a beer...

robotmay• 13 years ago

Chris Hadfield's videos and photos from this expedition have been really interesting; his interactions with the public are great and he's answering a lot of fun questions.

zalew• 13 years ago

yeah, his Google+ feed is amazing. all this expeditions are very expensive and serious, and meanwhile he's like "hey, lets make it fun for everybody down there who's curious. oh hai from space, here's a photo of your city and cool tricks with no gravity".

goyalpulkit• 13 years ago

Here are his Google+ posts: https://plus.google.com/+ChrisHadfield/posts

kaybe2• 13 years ago

huh. let me cite a speech I heard recently (celebration of 10 years of columbus module in space).. (approximately, it's from my mind) ..

"The ISS hat two mission objectives, (I) to bring the international community together for collaboration and friendship - this has been accomplished very well, and (II) to do some meaningful science up there, which has not been accomplished at all as of yet. Thus, it's your job to invent meaningful experiments to make the ISS more than a toy." (in the direction of the present students, not the Columbus module team)

What do we learn from this? They need and want input, and they need justification for the expense. The stuff shown here is thus entirely within the official line of the ISS teams.

guybrushT• 13 years ago

Q. What is this video about?

A. Its about: Magic. - a cloth unravelling out of a hockey puck - water turning to jello - things and people suspended in air - water flowing against gravity - happening somewhere in space

Magical. An neat little experiment proposed by 2 highschoolers!

dsuth• 13 years ago

It still trips me out that we can get video feeds... _from space_

kukrus• 13 years ago

It would be funnier (and more useful due to deflation) if the government just burned the money that is currently paying for this useless bullshit.

willismichael• 13 years ago

Riiiight. Because inspiring the new generation to think about physics (and science in general) is useless </irony>

arunabh• 13 years ago

Whoaa !! we should have videos upon videos for what happens when we do ___ in space :) cc : Elon Musk's spaceX

lessnonymous• 13 years ago

I want the blend-tec guy to become an astronaut. "Will it blend IN SPACE?"

bobbo3• 13 years ago

That was amazing.

On a side note, and not complaining about this at all, how much did it cost to get that water to the space station? I guess that bag had maybe 300 ml?

raphdg• 13 years ago

Tissues can be hanged somewhere on a clip, water evaporates, is picked up by dehumidifiers of the spaceship, goes back to the water system and purified back into drinking water.

ygra2• 13 years ago

I guess they meant getting the drinking water to the space station in the first place. Water doesn't really compress well (unlike the hockey puck rag) and also weighs quite a bit so sending it up should be pretty costly.

barkingcat2• 13 years ago

I remember reading that water is generated as a byproduct of the hydrogen fuel cells on board. And then the water vapour is also recycled and repurified back into the system. So it's a closed water system powered by solar energy inputs.

Of course, the machinery necessary for this loop costs x billions, but the particular molecules of water used in this experiment probably came out of the internal water cycle and didn't cost to get the water there in the first place.

barkingcat2• 13 years ago

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/as...

So there is still some loss of water even with the recycling

josephlord• 13 years ago

Very cool. One quibble with the title. This is what happens in zero G, I'd love to see the behaviour in space (outside the capsule) too. Does anyone know off the top of their head the state/behaviour of water in the low temperature and low pressure of space?

My prediction for the Zero G experiment was that that it would spray in all directions. [Partial spoiler] I was wrong because I forgot about a critical behaviour of water.

icegreentea• 13 years ago

Apparently, depends on how much sun you get. If you're in relative darkness, the water would disperse and then freeze into droplets. If you have some sun, the ice would vapourize.

http://www.space.com/7274-mystery-explained-glow-night-sky-a...

claudius• 13 years ago

The phase diagram[0] for water suggests that it will be frozen at 0 Pa and anything less than 200 K, so it will likely form small ice crystals on the cloth. Then trying to wring out the frozen cloth could prove interesting, though.

[0] http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/phase.html

4ad2• 13 years ago

The water won't have less than 200K when you start the experiment though (else you won't have a wet cloth but a frozen cloth), so all the water will boil off almost instantly.

timroman• 13 years ago

It would probably boil off before it would freeze.

katherineparker• 13 years ago

Chris is just awesome. What a good way to get everyone interested and involved in space exploration! There's so many big questions, but the little questions (like this one) are so interesting too.

sn0v• 13 years ago

NASA and other space agencies need more funding stat! Private space exploration is fine, but there's something to be said for placing science ahead of company interests.

Slightly off topic comment, I know, but watching zero gravity videos makes me realize how awesome space truly is and how little we know about it.

cyriacthomas• 13 years ago

Chris Hadfield is becoming Internet's the most loved astronaut.

ajtaylor• 13 years ago

Am I the only one that now wants to change careers and be an astronaut? This was wicked cool! I was definitely not expecting this result.

nutmeg• 13 years ago

I've noticed in several videos that the crew member appears sweaty or shiny. Is this due to the temperature/humidity in the ISS or because the moisture doesn't evaporate the same way? I'd be interested to know if anyone has an answer.

adimitrov• 13 years ago

It might (this is conjecture) also just be because they're not wearing any makeup.

Absolutely everybody you see on TV is wearing tons of makeup, because cameras paired with artificial flourescent spotlight just seem to exaggerate this nasty shiny effect.

crazygringo• 13 years ago

Interesting fact: in the recent Louis CK interview in Rolling Stone, he states that he uses absolutely zero makeup on himself on his show "Louie", which is pretty unusual.

corin_• 13 years ago

TV makeup is split into two types, 1) getting people looking good (same reason people wear makeup any time - but if you're being filmed, more people will see you, so you care more) 2) preventing the shine

While it's true that the lighting often doesn't help, the biggest problem is that the lighting can produce a lot of heat, so it's actually the lights making people sweat, not just making sweat show up more. Not sure lighting on the ISS is likely to do that, but could be wrong.

fourmii• 13 years ago

That was so amazing to watch. Here's a question, and forgive me for my ignorance. What happens to all the water droplets that escaped the washcloth? Aren't they worries about the water finding their way into equipment or electronics?

jere2• 13 years ago

A similar phenomenon makes it dangerous to sleep without proper ventilation:

>It is important that crew accommodations be well ventilated; otherwise, astronauts can wake up oxygen-deprived and gasping for air, because a bubble of their own exhaled carbon dioxide has formed around their heads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station#Cre...

eridius3• 13 years ago

This sounds like the exact opposite of fan death.

lallysingh• 13 years ago

Because it's real?

lifeisstillgood3• 13 years ago

My first thought on reading "crew quarters must be well ventilated" was - like, opening the windows?

Then I remembered.

Luckily I am not on safety critical work for NASA

Zecc• 13 years ago

When I read "It is important that crew accommodations be well ventilated; otherwise, astronauts can wake up ..." my mind completed with "asphyxiating in a vacuum".

lucb1e4• 13 years ago

Upon opening this page, some Kinja registration appeared, suggesting the username Luc0895. My first name is Luc, so I'm extremely curious as to how it knew this. I'm not logged in to io9 nor another Gawker website as far as I know. Anyone else had this?

dspillett• 13 years ago

Are they using some form of integration API such as that offered by facebook or G+ for the exchange of comments and likes/+1s?

lucb1e4• 13 years ago

That's what I'm wondering about, I was never asked for permission to share details with io9. Perhaps a few years ago on another Gawker site, but how would they link me? I wasn't using the same IP or browser or anything.

I am logged in to Google+, so that might be it, but it only accepts cookies strictly from accounts.google.com and plus.google.com, for example api.google.com or google.com itself does not work (cookies are removed as soon as all tabs of that website are closed).

whatshisface• 13 years ago

Maybe it was your browser? I've had firefox auto-fill forms on websites I have never been to before.

lucb1e4• 13 years ago

Hmm, that might be it. It sounds weird that Firefox shares personal data, but still they might consider a first name to be non-private. Interesting suggestion, thanks.

Bognar• 13 years ago

Are you logged into facebook?

lucb1e4• 13 years ago

I don't have Facebook, nor are cookies enabled for FB. Got a cookie killer add-on that only keeps cookies based on a whitelist. And even if I had, how would they obtain my personal data from it without asking my permission?

Inebas• 13 years ago

Wow! Very interesting stuff but every time I see something interesting, I have more questions than answers. For example, what happens to the fluid in your body? If it floats around, won't we die???

tomflack• 13 years ago

Which fluids are you talking about specifically? I've very little knowledge of anatomy but I think most of the liquids in our body are in "closed-loop" pressurised systems, with nowhere for the fluid to "go" whilst being forced in to motion by our muscles.

njharman• 13 years ago

Just floats his mic. No mic stand required. Not sure why that blows my mind. Driving home that he'd in freaking orbit. Something I "know", but is hard to comprehend.

hadem• 13 years ago

I was wondering when they return to Earth, do they ever just let go of things thinking it will float...? Out of habit I mean.

samolang• 13 years ago

TL;DW: http://i.imgur.com/myizeus.gif

dbbolton2• 13 years ago

A bit off topic, but I really feel like this type of "article" adds absolutely nothing to the video. I'd prefer to be linked directly to the video rather than give away a pageview to an entity that isn't even producing its own content.

eridius3• 13 years ago

I disagree. I don't typically watch a video linked on the internet unless I know what it's going to be about. The article let me evaluate the content of the video to determine that I wanted to go ahead and hit play.

dbbolton2• 13 years ago

With some videos, a bit of context is helpful, but I don't think it was in this case; the text didn't give us much more info than the title. I think Chris Hadfield's videos with the CSA are pretty well-known by now (I have seen several on HN, Reddit, etc.), so I think people would know what they were getting into without the article if the title had been a bit more specific. Granted, with HN's char limit, that isn't always possible.

andrewflnr2• 13 years ago

I, for one, like to know a little more about what I'm getting into before I watch a video. A video seems like a bigger time commitment than reading some text. If you sent me straight to YouTube, I'm much more likely to just ignore it.

mbh• 13 years ago

Did you see his wrist watch? It was fascinating. Like a living organism ...

malandrew3• 13 years ago

Does anyone else here find it amazing that NASA paid to send a fullsize wireless microphone into space. Given the cost per kilogram of sending things into space, I'm surprised they didn't go with something much smaller/lighter.

cbhl• 13 years ago

I would feel wary sending anything smaller, lest it get stuck or lost in some nook somewhere and caused problems.

Besides, part of CSA's mandate is to "advance the knowledge of space through science", and sending up cameras and microphones is well within that mandate.

http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/about/mission.asp

malandrew3• 13 years ago

I wasn't questioning the sending up of the microphone or video camera. I was just surprised they didn't send up something smaller/lighter. I kind of imagined there there are people who are tasked with "light weighting" everything that is sent on a launch mission so long as the lightweighting doesn't compromise on the engineering integrity of what is being sent into space.

eterm• 13 years ago

Can you imagine a wired mic in zero g?

Given how easily headphones etc tangle in gravity, I'd hate to see what they could do IN SPACE.

malandrew3• 13 years ago

It doesn't even need to be a wired mic. There are lighter wireless mics available.

justx1• 13 years ago

So it's the surface tension of water.

Here is what I am wondering:

Detergents break the surface tension.

What would happen if he'd add some detergent?

josephagoss• 13 years ago

The water may not run up his hands? Although I would expect it still to form that water column around the towel thing. Maybe?

atechnerd• 13 years ago

Next experiment: what happens when you sneeze in space?

maxxpower• 13 years ago

What I love about Chris Hadfields updates are that he is entirely world centric. "400 thousand of us live here" in Countries on the other side of the world. Devoting time not only to Canada and the US but truly communicating the importance of "International" in the title of the ISS.

What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]

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