Coleman was working in the Glovebox facility measuring the fundamental properties of polymethyl-methacrylate, at the point where it solidified, and describing them to the science team on the ground. The sample Coleman had been working with, essentially a concentration of microscopic plastic spheres suspended in a liquid medium, unexpectedly formed a stable disc-shaped crystal with dendrites, or branches, projecting outward from its edges.
Colloids are suspensions of finely divided solids or liquids floating in a gaseous or liquid medium.
The CDOT experiment, developed by NASA's Lewis Research Center, uses these colloidal suspensions of solid spheres as models of atomic interactions to test theories that describe these interactions. CDOT is the first of a series of Space Shuttle and Space Station experiments that is helping scientists to determine the validity of these theories. This knowledge could enable them to reduce the trial and error involved in developing new and better materials. Early last night, drop fission experiments in the Drop Physics Module went particularly well. The efficiency of some of the earlier successful runs was enhanced by the fact that some of the drops could be reused because they re- coalesced after dividing.