Evaporation in space

2001/09/12 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Fisika

Experiments in space are necessary to understand the boiling process without gravity.

It is not easy to prepare soup in space, according to NASA researchers. There, as gravity is very small, it does not boil as in the house kitchen.

On the ground the bubbles that form at the bottom of the pan move up. This is because the bubbles are warmer than the surrounding water. This process is called convection.

Convection is not so in space, as gravity does not intervene. Formed bubbles tend to concentrate around the heat source (at the bottom of the pan) forming a large bubble.

The entire boiling process, both on Earth and in space, can be seen on the following website:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast07sep_2.htm?list112226