Science in microgravity
How does gravity affect chemistry and biology? More than you might think – and you don’t have to visit space to find out, as Rachel Brazil discovers
When Isaac Newton came up with his universal theory of gravity in 1687, it’s unlikely he could have imagined that almost 330 years later, British astronaut Piers Sellers would be floating on the International Space Station with a chip from his apple tree. In the modern era of space exploration we have all become familiar with weightless astronauts floating around or doing acrobatics, but there are many effects of microgravity still unknown. Microgravity impacts how materials behave, how chemical reactions progress and how biology functions.