Computer Simulation of a Capillary “Jump” of a Mercury Drop or an Air Bubble Under Conditions of Short-Term Weightlessness

Abstract

The capillary “jump” of drop of mercury or an air bubble that occurs during the transition of gravity acceleration from earth to microgravity is called a drop of mercury sharp “jump” starting from the bottom of a container with water, where it is located, to its top or a sharp “jump” of the surface of the air shell, which has turned into a spherical air bubble, starting from the top of a container with water down to the bottom of the container. Article presents both a computer model of a capillary “jump” of a mercury drop in a container with water and computer model of a capillary “jump” of an air bubble in a container with water, previously developed by author during the transition of gravitational acceleration from earthly to microgravity. The developed computer models, implemented in the Turbo C and Turbo Basic computer languages, permitted to simulate on the computer display a capillary “jump” of mercury drop and an air bubble in container with water; quantitatively to calculate the energy of motion of a capillary “jump” of a mercury drop and an air bubble in container with water during the transition of the acceleration of gravity from earth to microgravity. The results of calculations of the energy of motion of a capillary “jump” of a mercury drop showed that the surface tension of a mercury drop plays a significant role in the driving of a mercury drop compared to its density. Flight tests have shown that the developed computer models can be successfully used in main systems of spacecraft under conditions of microgravity to predict the occurrence of a capillary “jump” of wide range real mercury drops and air bubbles in these systems.