ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

First of all, check out the way the astronaut keeps talking into the mic he's holding, even when he let's go of it to use his hands for a moment. The mic just floats in front of his face.

Zero gravity. Very convenient.

Then he squirts a stream of water sideways from a squeeze bottle over to a wash cloth.

Zero gravity. Magic in space.

After that the video gets real boring when he just wrings out the washcloth the way we do here on Earth, so —

Wait a second. The water doesn't just drip off the washcloth as he twists it — the water engulfs his hands like The Blob!





If NASA had been able to show a video like this to young people in the 1960s, they would have had several hundred thousand new applicants for astronaut training, and any Congressmen who didn't support the space program would have been voted out of office!



* For Pete's sake, don't be shy! Leave a reply.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[alltare]

It's funny that they didn't mention cohesion or adhesion — only "surface tension".

[Gord Green]

Well, it's the principle of water surface tension that causes this effect.
Water is a really strange substance. It's the only substance that expands not contracts upon freezing. AND when you think about it, there is a very small difference between the freezing and boiling point.

[alltare]

Right — surface tension of water is the result of the COhesion of the water molecules to each other. That's why it stays together in zero G instead of having little drops separate in every direction. But the water blobbing up all around the astronaut's hand is caused by the ADhesion of the water to the dissimilar molecules of his skin. The video ignored that point.

[Gord Green]

Ah, Got it!