Now Science Officer Smith can properly mod the spaceship's PS3/XBOX2/etc. for the long trip to Mars.
Why it spins.
by
CryptoEngineer
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
As to why the rosin separates from the solder, I don't know. But I think I know why it spins.
Heat is being conducted into the rosin ball from the molten solder. The rosin is boiling or vaporising. Initially, this is symettric, but if only a small jiggle occurs, one side of the blob gets cooled by the air, and starts to vaporize at a lower rate. The other, trailing side vaporizes at a higher rate, and in reaction of the ball experiences a push from that side. The movement increases the cooling effect on the upwind side, and the process feeds on itself. Since the rosin blob touches only the liquid solder, there is little or no friction , and these tiny effects can build up.
The astronaut was lucky the rosin ball didn't come right off and hit him in the eye.
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Now Science Officer Smith can properly mod the spaceship's PS3/XBOX2/etc. for the long trip to Mars.
As to why the rosin separates from the solder, I don't know. But I think I know why it spins.
Heat is being conducted into the rosin ball from the molten solder. The rosin is boiling or vaporising. Initially, this is symettric, but if only a small jiggle occurs, one side of the blob gets cooled by the air, and starts to vaporize at a lower rate. The other, trailing side vaporizes at a higher rate, and in reaction of the ball experiences a push from that side. The movement increases the cooling effect on the upwind side, and the process feeds on itself. Since the rosin blob touches only the liquid solder, there is little or no friction , and these tiny effects can build up.
The astronaut was lucky the rosin ball didn't come right off and hit him in the eye.