This Is What Happens When You Wring Out A Wet Cloth In Space

The weightlessness of space makes it a unique place to conduct experiments that can’t be done on Earth, like growing perfect protein crystals, finding out how rat memory changes in zero G, and finding out what happens when you ring out a soaked washcloth.

This last, gripping experiment was the responsibility of Canadian astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield, but it was designed by two tenth grade students from Lockview High School in Fall River, Nova Scotia. The demonstration is now on YouTube, and it’s gone viral, averaging about a million views per day for five days. Kendra Lemke and Meredith Faulkner designed the “Ring it out” experiment when their teacher, John Munro, challenged them to think how a microgravity environment might affect experiments. They hypothesized that the cloth would not drip in the weightlessness of space, but rather cling to the washcloth as it’s wrung.

This is pretty off-topic for us Hubbers, but who doesn’t like a well-formulated hypothesis clearly tested – it’s science at its finest. Of course, it’s in space too, which makes it that much cooler.

[Source: Canadian Space Agency via YouTube]