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StationLIFE: Let’s Get Physical

Every month on StationLIFE, we’ll focus on a scientific area where the International Space Station is conducting groundbreaking research. This month, astronaut Tracy Dyson hosts a focus on how the station is a unique environment for physical sciences. The International Space Station is a laboratory unlike any on Earth. Onboard, we can control gravity as a variable and even remove it entirely from the equation. Removing gravity from the equation reveals fundamental aspects of physics hidden by force-dependent phenomena such as buoyancy-driven convection and sedimentation. Science on space station also reveals how other forces, which are small compared to gravity, can dominate system behavior if provided the opportunity. Gravity often masks or distorts subtle forces such as surface tension and diffusion; on space station, these forces have been harnessed for a wide variety of physical science applications (combustion, fluids, colloids, surface wetting, boiling, convection, materials processing, etc.). By understanding the fundamentals of combustion and surface tension and colloids, we may make more efficient combustion engines; better portable medical diagnostics; stronger, lighter alloys; medicines with longer shelf-life, and buildings that are more resistant to earthquakes. Be sure to check back every month to see more of how we’re working "Off the Earth, For the Earth." http://www.nasa.gov/station