Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Fire Burns Differently in Space, Space Station Experiment Shows | NASA & International Space Station Science | Fire & Microgravity Research | Space.com

Fire Burns Differently in Space, Space Station Experiment Shows: To study fires in space, FLEX researchers ignite a small drop of heptane or methanol fuel in a special experiment rack aboard the space station. As the droplet burns, a spherical flame engulfs it, and cameras record the whole process.

So far, researchers have observed some unexpected phenomena.

"Thus far, the most surprising thing we've observed is continued apparent burning of heptane droplets after flame extinction under certain conditions," Williams said. "Currently, this is entirely unexplained."

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