PSU PiggyBack 06 .:. Go Up .:. Download Entire video (182 Mb .wmv) .:. Cool stuff at 36:30 (2.5 Mb .wmv)

Videos in YouTube: Cool Stuff .:. Entire Video

In 2006, some PSU students flew on a NASA DC-9 (?) aircraft and filmed the behavior of a soap film as the airplane went into and out of zero gravity trajectories. This was the basic setup:

 The 50 minute video is here (182 Mb .wmv).  As you look at the video you can see first that there are horizontal bands of thin film interference.  This is because the film is thicker at the bottom due to gravity.  Then the plane goes into zero gravity, and something very interesting happens.  Generally, it hard to tell when the plane goes into zero gravity in the long video- but I think at about 12:20 in the video, and at 36:30 you can see a freshly formed film go into zero gravity.  It is pretty cool.

In the Cool Stuff video you will hear the pilot say "Feet Down - comin' up" which is how he tells the passengers that gravity is about to come back!