Blowing Bubbles at the ISS
Kirt's Cogitations™ #6

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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Blowing Bubbles at the ISS

While playing around on the International Space Station, astronaut-scientist Donald Pettit discovered that in the absence of gravity, ordinary water would maintain itself in a thin film stretched across a ring similar to a child's bubble wand. When shaken, the film held, and would sometimes eject a droplet or two of water - causing the film to get even thinner. On Earth, the surface tension of plain water is too weak to withstand the gravitational force. Adding soap to the water greatly increases its surface tension, allowing the film to persist in a gravitational field. This newfound phenomenon is being studied now for its application in computational fluid dynamics and turbulence.

Johanson Technology Prototyping Kit - RF Cafe Website

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...