Put a pot of water on a hot stove, and you'll soon see steam bubbles scurrying toward the surface. Soon, portions of the heated container will dry out, and it may crack.
Bubbles can be troublesome in the gravity-free environment of space.
But by using sound waves, electric fields and forced liquid currents, three scientists at The Johns Hopkins University hope to make bubbles behave in more productive ways when gravity is gone. The research is important because bubbles play a major role in cooling and water purification, which will be crucial as space vessels spend more time in weightless conditions. To address the bubble problem, NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications Division recently awarded multi-year research grants to three faculty members in Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering. Aboard a space ship or an orbiting lab, rocket engines, electronic equipment and solar radiation all generate heat, which must be eliminated. Although commonly associated with cooking, boiling is a highly efficient cooling process.