Experimental flight results!

Here are two videos showing the results of the high-speed videography. My thanks to Michelle Peters and the rest of the Zero-G crew for their help in getting everything to work.

I'll be posting videos of the basic physics experiments in a couple of weeks, lots of editing and graphics to add to them.

First up, liquid deployment tests...

And last but not least, the ever-popular Mentos in Space!

Revised High Speed Liquid Observation Platform

Well, after several days, we have a new launch date - if all goes well, I'll be in Florida Nov 19-20 to fly on a Zero-G Experimental Flight. These differ from the regular tourist flights in that you get more parabolas (25) and can bring significant equipment onboard.

I had originally planned a simple apparatus (see this earlier entry) but as preparations were made for the flight, it became clear than an enclosed experiment box would be much preferable. So I whipped up a simple setup using MicroRax miniature t-slot. Here's some build photos:

First, here's the general concept. An enclosed box that mounts the Exlim EX-F1 camera and the macrophotography lighting rig.

Here are some closeups of the camera mount, a combination of Microrax connectors and old-fashioned bent metal.

The sides of the box are paneled using TwinWall plastic sheet. It's basically corrugated cardboard, but made out of plastic, and weighs almost nothing. You can find it at Lowes or Home Depot, it's typically found with the Lexan and Acrylic plastic sheets.

When in use, the open parts of the device are sealed with a glove bag. This attaches to the perimeter of the device with velcro strips, and has built in plastic gloves. You can find these at Lab Supply outlets. I also test-fit some pipe insulation around exposed MicroRax channel to provide a better grip.

Here you can see the entire device in action. I am holding it with my hand in one of the gloves.

Various liquid deployment devices are attached to the inside with (you guessed it) Velcro. They are all out of the field of view of the camera.

The main devices are Baby Soda Bottles from Steve Spangler Science. These are 2-liter soda bottle preforms, and are practically unbreakable. Each has a rubber stopper on the top that is secured to the bottle with a pipe-cleaner; they can be opened and closed with one hand. Each tube has a hole drilled in the bottom and a vinyl tube inserted into it; air entering the tube will eject the water from the bottle (I hope!)

At the top of the device is a plenum that connects to all 5 test-tubes, with an input tube that I will hold in my mouth. When I puff, air will flow into any uncapped test-tubes.

Also in the device are several other devices. I have two alternate water deployment devices, a foam cube (5 sides covered in duct tape) and a squeeze bottle filled with foam discs. I also have an agitator made from a Tamiya Submarine Mini Motor onto which I hacked an extended shaft. This will let me insert it into a water sphere and set up fluid flow. I will also (I hope!) be able to use it to insert a Mento into a sphere of Diet Tonic Water.

I still have a few tweaks to do to the device, but it's about 95% complete.

In addition to the high speed video, I am hoping to do several experiments that will form the basis for a set of educational videos for kids. My current list of experiments is:

• Would a grandfather clock work on the Moon or Mars? (Pendulums)
• Can you sleep a YoYo on the Moon or in Outer Space?
• Can you slink a Slinky in Zero G?
• Would the famous Pan Am Grip Shoes from 2001: A Space Odyssey actually work? I don't think so, but I think I know how they could be made to work. So I've made some Mad Overlord Grip Socks and I'm going to give it a try!

Just a little Mad Kitchen Electrochemistry...

Recently, I ran across an interesting Instructable on Anodizing Titanium. Now, as anyone who has read my website knows, I build combat robots, so I have Ti (or as robot builders call it, "the other white meat") coming out the wazoo. So I thought it would be interesting to try and see how it worked.

The setup is pretty simple. You have a tub filled with an electrolyte solution (I tried 5% White Vinegar, and a saturated solution of baking soda in warm water -- the baking soda works much faster and gives better results IMHO). You then hack together a couple of 9V battery clips so one of them has the black (negative) end connected to a clip, and the other has the red (positive) end connected to another clip.

In my setup, the negative size of the circuit is connected to a large metal plate (it can be any conductive metal; steel, aluminum or even titanium) wrapped in a couple of layers of paper towel. The electrolyte can soak through this, but it prevents a short circuit.

You then connect any number of 9V batteries together in a zigzag manner, and connect the two clips to the exposed ends. This gives you a source of 9V, 18V, 27V and so on. Use rubber gloves and care, because the voltages can get up there!

You then connect the red (positive) side to the item you want to anodize, drop it into the electrolyte, and wait. Bubbles will form; what is happening is that the current is breaking the water up into hydrogen and oxygen, and the oxygen travels to the positive side of the circuit and builds up an oxide layer on the titanium. The more voltage, the deeper the oxide layer gets, and different depths = different colors.

Here are some color results I got; the top row is vinegar, and the bottom row is baking soda. Baking soda is much more conductive, so you get results much more quickly (and the batteries will get warm). I also think it gives a better finished result. Even though I did my tests for 2 minutes with vinegar and one minute with baking soda, you need much less time to get to the point where the color is no longer changing.

As it happens I had some Brunton MY-TI folding sporks lying around. The bowl is made of titanium, and the wire handle is steel. So I decided to see what would happen...

The leftmost spork is untreated, the center one is the result of using 2 9V batteries (slightly used, so about 16v), and the rightmost one required 4 9V batteries (also slightly used, about 34v). Interestingly enough, the titanium stem with the Brunton logo on it has a surface treatment that greatly slows the anodizing process; you can just barely see a hint of color in the purple spork.

All in all, I think a tastefully anodized titanium spork is "an elegant utensil, for a more civilized age" -- and if you sharpen the tines, it's also a weapon!

High Speed Liquid Observation Platform - Fluid Deployment Bus

As part of my preparations for the September Zero-G flight, I started thinking about improvements to the High Speed Liquid Observation Platform (see 2 posts prior to this one for details on how it works. In particular, I became concerned about the problems of quickly deploying the water globes during the microgravity cycles.

My problem is this: each phase of the flight consists of 5 cycles of microgravity followed by double-gravity. Each half-cycle is about 20 seconds long, so I have 20 seconds to deploy, film, and recover water globes, followed by 20 seconds flat on my back in 2G to reset for the next cycle.

This presents a significant problem, since the reset involves stowing the deployment devices used in the previous cycle, and prepping the new devices (including unsealing them so the water can be released). Not only that, during microgravity, I have to be able to position myself, control the camera, and deploy up to 2 water globes (so I can hopefully collide them).

Yikes. That's a lot of logistics, and since one hand has to control the camera rig, I only have 1 hand and 2 legs remaining with which to do all this.

After a lot of thought, here's what I came up with:

The steel ring is where the diaper-lined plastic bag that collects the water globes will go, and the baby soda bottles are the deployment devices.

Each BSB (these are 2-liter soda bottle preforms, damn near unbreakable) has a rubber stopper in it that has a tube running through it. The tube runs down to the bottom of the tube. The way it works is simple -- you uncork the BSB, and stick the tube that extends past the stopper into your mouth. Gentle puffs then push the water out of the tube.

The tubes are angled and positioned so that a water globe, after being deployed, should float on a path that takes it right through the camera's field of view at the proper distance. And if all goes well, two simultaneously deployed globes should hit each other at just the right place.

During the 2G period, reset involves either restoppering the tube or tucking it through a loop to keep it from floating loose, then unstoppering 1 or 2 bottles and putting the tubes in my mouth. I have timed this process and my first attempt took only 12 seconds.

Of course, I have no guarantee that this deployment method will actually work, so I'll have other methods available just in case. And I also need to think about how to keep myself stabilized and still be able to easily position myself in order to track the wandering globes of water.

But that is the subject of another post.

T-4 Months and Counting

It's been a long time since I've had anything to report on the blog, but the wait is over.

As readers will know, I have a standby ticket-to-ride on G-Force One. Well, I got a email from ZeroG the other day offering me a slot on one of their upcoming Research flights. These are special flights with fewer people on board, and the ability to deploy significant experimental apparatus. They also do more parabolas than a standard flight (25 vs. 15).

This means I'm going to be able to do more interesting stuff than on a regular flight. The hard part is going to be figuring out how best to use the time.

Which is where you come in.

I talked to the ZeroG folks and they have agreed that I can invite people to build experiments, and if they pass muster with ZeroG, I will fly them for you and film the results. I am particularly looking for projects that involve science outreach to young folks, so this would be perfect for an engineering summer camp project.

If you are interested, please email me (trebor@animeigo.com) -- and pass this on to anyone you think might be interested.

The High Speed Liquid Observation Platform - V2.0

As you know from the previous posting, I solved the problem of getting enough light to do high speed videography using a new LED light ring that just became available.

It then occurred to me that this new lighting form-factor would allow me to radically simplify the experimental platform I had previously built. In the previous design, I used a rectangular cage because I was expecting to have to mount linear light strips to the device. However, the light ring mounts directly to the camera itself, which means that the platform now only has to perform two functions:

1) Allow me to easily point the camera at what I want to record.

2) Collect the water globes at the end of each Zero-G cycle.

This permits a much more elegant design, as follows:

Basically, the new device is a pistol-grip for the camera, with an extension that holds an open Zip-Lock bag (optionally with a diaper in the bottom to absorb water). The grip is made out of two short sections of aluminum t-slot, and the ring that holds the bag is made out of thin, flexible UHMW plastic, with some velcro to hold the bag in place. Everything is wrapped in adhesive-backed foam.

Another nice touch in this design is that the far edge of the collection bag ring is a visual reference that can be used to keep the camera the correct distance away from the water globes; all I have to do is prefocus the camera to the correct distance and everything will work out just fine.

It isn't easy to see but the camera is actually mounted slightly to the rear of the pistol grip, which improves the balance a bit.

One thing I'd really like to do is get a prototype of the Zero-G Coffee Cup and test it out. But first I have to get one, and then I have to bamboozle the Zero-G folks into letting me try it. Hey Starbucks, can I get a grant for Zero-G Latte Research?

Nerds in Space!

I finally got around to cutting together a little music video from the footage of our first ZeroG flight. If you go to the Vimeo site you can see it in HD. Enjoy!