Truth be told, once you’ve got over the lack of gravity, it’s probably quite dull being stuck out in space.
A case in point is a video posted of Nasa astronaut Don Pettit injecting bubbles into bubbles.
Marooned out on the International Space Station for a six month stint, Pettit clearly has some time on his hands.
The video demonstration features him oohing and ahhing as he creates, as Digg puts it “Russian Nesting Bubbles”.
Astronaut and chemist Don Pettit injects bubbles into bubbles while on board the ISS
Pettit creates his first bubble, observing: “So that’s like a thick spherical shell of water. Wow.
“Now, let me show you something wild.
“Oh look at that, a droplet with bubbles inside of a bubble with water.”
So far so nerdy. After observing the rotation of the main bubble and the fact the little bubbles and droplets are migrating to the centre, Pettit drops the immortal line: “That’s where I would go if I was a bubble.”
The rest of the clip features Pettit continuing his demonstration, interspersed with exclamations of: “Wow….cool….awesome”
The video is fifth episode in the Science off the Sphere series, which is being featured on Physics Central.
By the end of the clip, Pettit issues a challenge, (here comes the science bit): When the water sphere rotates, why do the bubbles centre themselves?
Answers on a postcard to Don Pettit, International Space Station…