Astronauts and Space: Activity 3: Liquids in Space

Chris Hadfield demonstrates the effect of weightlessness on liquids.
(Via @Cmdr_Hadfield/Twitter) Read more at: http://www.heavy.com/tech/2013/02/canadian-astronaut-chris-hadfield-best-tweets-from-space/

 Surface tension forms a like of skin in space that holds liquids together in spheres. Earth's gravity is strong enough to squash these spheres into ovals. This demonstration will show how liquids look in free fall and how gravity flattens them and breaks surface tension.

You will need a tall clear glass jar with a lid. 

Fill this with oil.

Put a drop of food coloring in a teaspoon and fill the spoon with water.

Pour this colored water into the oil and watch it form spheres as it falls through the oil.

Put a lid on the jar, flip it and watch the effect again.

Shake the jar and see the larger drops turn into tiny ones.

 Let the jar sit awhile and see what happens to the spheres.

Turn the jar over once and they go back to spheres.

source:

• Space Station Science, Marianne Dyson

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