I think any kinds of experiments that you look into the natural world of things is awesome. When I go to work everyday and try to understand something about biochemistry I am amazed about how fun it is. I guess that is why I became a scientist. Asking a question is explosive. Asking the right ones can change the world. When you ask a question in the natural sciences you think about the parameters heat, motion, ionic strength, interacting chemicals ect. What about gravity? In order to do that you need to go to space (the final frontier)....
Don Pettit is the Science Officer on the International Space Station. He asked, 'What happens to thin films and bubbles might in zero-g." Everybody has made a thin film of water, soap and glycerin. If you have not go do it right now.....Ok take a loop of thin wire 3.5 cm - 15 cm and blow through it you will get a bubble. Pettit first tried it with just water. On earth a small thin film can be made with a 1 cm diameter wire which is very fragile. His however was 4 cm and very easily he can move it in the room and put food coloring on it.
So then you ask, 'What is happening?' The electrical attraction between water molecules, and thus the surface tension of water, is the same on Earth and in space. There's no difference. What is different is the competition between surface tension and gravity. Surface tension therefore wins the competition with gravity, and the result is a sturdy long-lasting membrane. "Some of our films lasted longer than 12 hours," notes Pettit. This space research is fundamental research in fluid physics. By taking out the parameter of gravity you essentially make a 3D system into a more 2D system. Surface tension outta this world.......
