The experiment apparatus used in Kornfeld and Antar's experiments was
relatively simple: a plexiglass splash box with a cage suspended inside,
and syringes to deliver water.
The box was 5.7 x 7.0 x 9.8 cm (2.2 x 2.8 x 3.5 in) on the inside, large
enough to suspend a large cylindrcial cage, 4.6 cm long and 2.6 cm in diameter
(1.8 x 1 in). Four mesh openings were used, 0.27, 0.45, 0.55, and 1.27 cm
(0.1 to 0.5 in). Two cubic-shaped cages, with similar mesh openings also
were tested.
Small springs, salvaged from used government-issue ballpoint pens, extended
from each corner of the splash boxes suspended the cages in the exact middle.
The cages were made of wire or plastic to determine how the fluid would
react with solids having different wetting properties.
Closeup pictures
show two of the cages tested by Kornfeld and Antar on the KC-135. All of
the models -- including those with wide meshes -- held water during tests.
The liquids used in the tests included distilled water, salt water, and
water mixed with polyethylene glycol to reduce surface tension. Each is
similar to liquids used in protein crystal growth experiments.
The liquids were injected by a syringe pump designed to deliver liquids
at precisely metered rates in lab tests.
Everything about the equipment was low-cost. The syringe pump was borrowed
from another lab. The cages were made from window screen, chicken wire,
plastic fishing line, and a plastic mat for hooked rugs. Even the carrying
cases for the test cells were made of recycled computer disk cases with
surplus foam rubber cut to shape, and recycled ballpoint pen springs.
On the ground, the liquids drain straight through the cages. But on NASA's KC-135 "Weightless Wonder,",
the liquids clung to the mesh until the weightless coast ended.
The hardware was scrounged and built by David Donovan (a technician from
Hughes STX) who came up with the idea to use the pen springs and the splash
boxes, among many other tasks, and Raymond Moore (an engineer with Teledyne
Brown Engineering) who built mechanical items ranging up to the flight rack.
If you really want to dive deep into zero-g liquids, check out Fundamentals
of Low Gravity Fluid Dynamics by Basil Antar and Vappu S. Nuotio-Antar
(Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC, 1993).