Space Balls
Offline Dale Kornfeld of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
was conducting experiments aboard the space shuttle
to determine the effect of microgravity on chemical
reaction rates of emulsion polymerization, as well as on
the morphology (shape) of polymer microspheres grown
in microgravity [5]. The first experiments of the
Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR) were conducted in
1982 aboard space shuttle flight STS-3 and resulted in
microspheres as large as 5 m in mean diameter. A
subsequent experiment on a later shuttle flight, STS-6,
produced particles of 10 m mean diameter.
In 1984, the NBS group obtained samples of the 5 m and the
10 m materials and did a detailed intercomparison
between the space-made particles and earth-made particles
of similar composition [1,2].
In both cases, the space-made materials were found to be superior in
terms of individual particle sphericity, narrowness of
size distribution, and, importantly, in particle rigidity.
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is more likely and more common in space than it is in our terrestrial environment?
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Yes.
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Even if the air were truly breatheable, there are just too many tail bones and unnecessary appendices on earth.
Precision is more do-able in space.
Humans make suitable snow balls given the proper conditions on earth.
Space has its own conditions, but we can make better ball bearings, glass, aerogel, and a lot of other highly desireable items there and, actually, most everything we can make on earth and some things that can't. And all the raw materials are already there to form and mold. And less energy is required to produce the best stuff ever made. And medicine and research related to combating dreadfull aging is even more do-able and, obviously, safer.
Nothing is drawn toward you in space because you lack gravitational attraction. And if your ship, home, or platform, is mobile you can move out of the way.
We are shackled to a planet we cannot move and constantly rained upon.
End of sermon.
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All we need now is a way to get out of earth's gravity that's affordable on the grand scale.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
WTF are you talking about?
What do you call structure in first place? Many "structures" require high pressure to be created.
What "raw materials are already there to form and mold"??? Perhaps you are talking about some planets? What planets? Be specific.
Plastic - fantastik.
Usually when people say this they mean mining the stuff floating around in the system. Fuel components on the moon, heavy metals from asteroids, easy access to the sun for energy, etc.
I think he's just saying that if you have industry in space you don't necessarily have to lift raw materials out of earth's gravity well.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
Nonsense - structure is much more likely when there is more matter in close proximity to form complex structures, which only occurs on larger bodies which have sufficient gravity to pull it together.
Gravitational attraction exists everywhere.
Earth orbit is becoming increasingly dangerous with all the crap we have shot up there. That stuff that is raining on us is up there in space - at least on earth the small stuff is burned up in the atmosphere.
It is hard to move out of the way of something quickly enough if it could be coming toward you at over 30,000 mile per hour, is maybe only the size of a pea, but at that velocity has enough energy to blow a hole in your ship. We don't have that problem on earth.
We also have to shield ourselves and equipment from cosmic rays and the solar-wind and bigger eruptions from the sun.
Yes there are things we can do more easily in micro-gravity than on earth.
But it is still incredibly expensive to get significant quantities of material together, even mining it from the moon. All these bodies are moving at high speeds relative to us and require fuel to rendezvous with to get material from. It would only be economic for materials which are very rare on earth.
Ball bearings are quite adequately formed in the zero gravity they experience while falling down a tall, ideally evacuated, tower. Much cheaper than using space-craft to get them up to orbit.
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Actually, as far as I remember, this is how people made bullets hundreds of years ago - droped liquid lead down from a tall tower. It worked like magic.
After launches and set-up, you get the flow. And the break-even and the ROI.
And nothing beats that demon.
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As an interesting sidebar,
Possibly worthy of mentioning to tourists orbiting Saturn' moon, Titan, in approaching its Xanadu region, is this region's streams of sparkling crystal balls of ice.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-156
The spheres can go from a few centimeters up to a couple of meters in diameter.