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Old Columbia Test Sheds Light on Ketchup

Posted May 4, 08 6:27 PM CDT in Science & Health    Editor's Choice

(Newser) – A hard drive recovered from the Columbia shuttle disaster confirms an old theory about why people shake ketchup before pouring it, LiveScience reports. Astronauts on the craft were conducting a zero-gravity experiment with xenon, a gas, to study viscosity, but scientists feared the results were lost after Columbia burned up 5 years ago.

The experiment itself was found intact amid debris scattered across Louisiana and Texas. It showed that when stirred, xenon's viscosity decreased—it became less sticky—which proves an old theory about how agitation affects molecules or atoms. No big deal? It is in the industrial world, where a liquid like motor oil can turn runny when engine parts smack it around.

Source LiveScience

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tems lay at a memorial in Nacogdoches, Texas, on Sunday, February 2, 2003, in remembrance of the crew of the space shuttle Columbia.   (KRT Photos)
Space shuttle Columbia on its successful maiden flight into orbit from Cape Canaveral.   (Magnum Photos)
A file photo shows Space shuttle Columbia on its launch pad in Cape Canaveral.   (KRT Photos)
Members of the space shuttle Columbia crew pose for a photo in October 2001 before they died on the 2003 crash.   (KRT Photos)
Evidence from the site where the nose cone of the Shuttle Columbia was discovered in Hemphill, Texas is tagged and bagged by the EPA on Monday, February 3, 2003.   (KRT Photos)
Evidence recovered from Columbia space shuttle's hard drive reveals that stirring a substance like ketchup reduces its viscosity.   (Shutterstock)
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astronauts  • Columbia Space Shuttle  • experiments  • Columbia disaster  • shuttle Columbia  • zero gravity


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