The Formation of Nucleation Centers in a Reduced Gravity Environment

Rice University

Clouds play a major factor in determining weather conditions on Earth. Cloud droplets are formed through the collision and subsequent combination of the water vapor particles, with an initial size of ten microns, in the cloud. This process is known as collision coalescence. However, the cloud droplets have a terminal size of one millimeter in radius, meaning the vapor particles must increase in mass by a factor of one million to become raindrops. When the droplets exceed the terminal size, the effect of gravity overcomes the warm air updraft caused by exothermic coalescing, forcing them to fall, resulting in raindrops.

Our proposal for the 1998 NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program is an experiment that will track the formation of cloud droplets in a microgravity experiment. The operation of our experiment in this microgravity environment will mean that the cloud droplets will no longer subjected to the gravitational forces that cause them to fall from the cloud. Based on this fact, we expect to achieve droplets which exceed terminal size, and it will be a major goal of our project to create and observe such particles.

Based on our results, we expect to gain a reater understanding of cloud microphysics, and hope to broaden the ouston community's appreciation and understanding of both our project, and NASA projects in general through a series of multimedia presentations to area high schools.

Visit our web site at:Rice Microgravity

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Last Modified: Tue May 19 1998
CSR/TSGC Team Web