Zero-G Teachers

By Christopher Moore

Here is an interesting story about a group of teachers floating in freefall during the “Weightless Flights of Discovery” program, sponsored by the aerospace company Northrop Grumman in cooperation with Zero Gravity Corp.

On one level, the exercise gives educators a chance to demonstrate the laws of physics in an environment like nothing on Earth: Objects in motion (like those plush toys) really stay in motion rather than falling to the floor. Surface tension turns those squirts of water into floating, glistening spheres. CD players and bicycle wheels go into a stable spin like gyroscopes.

“That’s the way physics teaching is all the time,” said Jeff Klein of Cleveland’s Gilmour Academy. “We’ve got great toys.”

Great toys indeed.

Hey, Northrop Grumman — if you need a physicist blogger to float around for a few hours, then I’m your guy.

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