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?
What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
41–50 of 113 posts
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
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.
It would start boiling but this very fact would very quickly cool it off to freezing point: water has a very high heat of vaporization.
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#43Upon 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?
Are they using some form of integration API such as that offered by facebook or G+ for the exchange of comments and likes/+1s?
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#44Chris 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.
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".
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.
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#45It would be funnier (and more useful due to deflation) if the government just burned the money that is currently paying for this useless bullshit.
Riiiight. Because inspiring the new generation to think about physics (and science in general) is useless
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#46I 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 :-)
I wonder whether, after he returns to Earth, Cmdr Hadfield will expect things to hang in the air for him; looks habit-forming.
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#47I'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.
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.
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.
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#48I'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.
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.
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.
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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…
Alexandr Laveikin (cosmonaut) spent time on the Mir (Мир) spacestation in 1987. He said it was "very noisy, very hot."
(This is from 'Packing for Mars' by Mary Roach)
I guess heat conduction is difficult if your spacecraft is in a vacuum.
Re: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in space [video]
#50That 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?
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.