wAtEr bOilS dIfFerEntLy iN sPAcE

You might have observed boiling of water in your everyday life but this common process has a different face when done in a different environment.

Here it has less variables effecting the boiling of water. Two major variables which are commonly present here on earth but absent in space are :-

1> Gravitational Force
2> Air Pressure

Removing the effects caused by these forces causes the water to boil in a different way than usual. As all of us know that water is an insulator. When water is heated on earth hot water at the base being lighter than the cooler water at the top goes up and the cooler water comes down in turn to get heated and the cycle continues. But here in space as there is no gravity cooler water remains at the top causing the heated water to get hotter. The heat flow is only through convection.

Further when water at the base vapourises to form a bubble. This bubble remains there intact as no there is no buoyant force as there is no air pressure. Further the small air bubbles combine to form a big air bubble which again acts an insulator of heat.

This experiment was conducted by NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and i read it in an article so I thought that I should share it on my blog.