Toward a Microgravity Research Strategy (1992) / Chapter Skim
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1 Overview of Microgravity Research
1 Overview of Microgravity Research
Pages 1-5
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. Gravity is certainly a weak force compared to the "strong" or "weak" nuclear forces that bind atomic nuclei or subnuclear particles or to the electromagnetic forces that bind atoms and molecules.
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Near such a point, the balance of forces is so delicate that thermodynamic and transport phenomena can exhibit divergent or otherwise anomalous behavior. Thus even the slight inhomogeneity in hydrostatic pressure that arises whenever matter is in a gravitational field can lead to important differences in observable features.
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The transport properties of fluids, characterized by such features as diffusion coefficients and Soret coefficients (diffusion driven by thermal gradients) , can be measured much more accurately in microgravity experiments, leading to data with far less scatter than data obtained on Earth (sometimes even to transport coefficients with signs opposite to those measured on Earth)
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Gravity's role in the presence of very weak binding forces has not led yet to any readily identifiable experiments. However, the growth of protein crystals could be affected by convection phenomena, as in la above, or by the more subtle action of gravitational forces that can distort macromolecules.
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National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. Last update 7/13/00 at 10:34 am Site managed by Anne Simmons, Space Studies Board file:///C|/SSB_old_web/cmgr92ch1.htm (5 of 6)
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