@sadrastro: The experiment shown here was carried out on the International Space Station to see how combustion happens in a 0g environment. They used a 50/50 fuel mixture of iso-octane and heptane, tested in a standard air environment (21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen at 1 atm). The results are quite interesting. The only glaringly obvious feature is that the flame looks spherical. The reason for that is simply that it has no reason to look otherwise. On Earth, gravity creates an axis that defines the direction of convection (i.e. up). In contrast, in the case of micro-gravity there is no up and gases diffuse with a spherical symmetry. An additional feature that is important is that the flame looks blue. That simply indicates that combustion takes place to completion. At times, you see parts of the burning droplet turn bright orange. The orange color indicates the formation of some soot, i.e. products of incomplete combustion. These then give off a bright orange color similar to a typical fire on Earth. Finally, you can see some fluctuations in the drop, e.g. where the orange patches show up. This asymmetry helps the dying droplet swoosh away in one direction before it runs out of fuel and disappears. #Astronomy #space #Science #astrology

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Sunday 09 February 2025 15:32:05 GMT