international toys in space

[Music] mission control this is the international space station uh we are detecting several objects with us here in earth orbit wait they're they're coming into view now it's it's a yo-yo and a top mission control they're toys ah roger that we're sending you some science experiments that use toys to demonstrate physics principles the investigation is called international toys in space science on the station here's your host nasa astronaut leland melvin hi i'm leland melvin nasa astronaut welcome to international toys in space in the past you may have seen other nasa programs that highlighted toy experiments conducted onboard the space shuttle this time we're going totally international both with the toys that travel into space and with the space station they're going to the toys have been collected from around the world with over 40 toys being selected as candidates in the end less than half that number were considered good enough to make it through the selection process sorry the toys that made it had a long journey flying on a space shuttle all the way up to the international space station 250 miles above us built by international partners the station is not only a permanent place to live in space it's also a space laboratory but this laboratory is different from any other the space station and all the objects inside it is in a state of free fall around the earth space scientists describe this situation as microgravity think of the feeling you have on a swing just at the instant you start to come back down now imagine that falling sensation the whole time you're on board the station but since the station is falling too things appear to float weightless scientists take advantage of the weightless effects of microgravity to study biology technology physics and other scientific disciplines microgravity is also the condition in which we conduct our toy experiments when crews conduct science experiments on the station the data is sent down to the ground for scientists to analyze we call these scientists investigators and that's where you come in for international toys and space you are the investigators the expedition 5 crew has videotaped the toy experiments now you analyze the data okay investigators it's time to meet the station crew member who's going to guide you through your toy experiments meet expedition 5 science officer peggy whitson thanks leland expedition 5 was a busy mission and we accomplished a lot along with my crewmates commander valerie corzoon and flight engineer sergey treshoff we performed a six-month mission aboard the international space station as leland mentioned there's a lot of science going on at the station in fact during our stay i was named the station's first science officer we conducted over 20 different experiments i activated and tested the new microgravity glove box for the station a place for experiments that need to be kept in an enclosed environment you should know that for space station even a science officer's job isn't all just science there was a lot of work to do as a space construction worker too i operated the station's robotic arm like a giant crane in space the robot arm helps us install station parts i also conducted a spacewalk that lasted over four hours valeria and i installed micrometeoroid shields on the zvezda module the living quarters of the station and of course there were the toys in addition to the experiments you're about to see we demonstrated some of the toys during a u.s congressional hearing about space and education so as you can see it was a mission full of science and adventure and the toys were a part of it all during the video you'll be hearing my voice give a play-by-play of the toy experiments first you'll see the toy in earth's gravity called 1g then you'll see the video of the toy in space in microgravity okay investigators good luck spinning toys great let's get started the first toys are spinning toys some originate from asia the u.s and europe others are found anywhere in the world i wonder how will objects that spin in earth's gravity behave in microgravity check it out [Music] first i use the top much like i would on earth and it works about the same until it bounces off the floor and starts to float the top does not touch the floor as it spins so there's less friction than on earth for this reason the top spins much longer and remains stable this gyroscopic stability definitely works next i release the top in the air and it turns in a stable manner moving in any direction that i push it without changing its axis of spin conservation of angular momentum keeps the tops axis pointed in the same direction notice what happens when i leave the handle on now the top transfers some of its angular momentum or spin to the handle when the handle and the top drift apart they are both spinning and move in opposite directions to conserve linear momentum in this experiment i tape a bolt onto the rim of the tops disc to see how this affects the top spin on earth gravity acting on the unbalanced weight of the bolt would cause the top to fall over quickly here for a few seconds it can be seen that pushing the top near its end causes a change in the direction of its spin axis an unbalanced torque produces a change in angular momentum so i added a second bolt and look for a difference this time you can see a wobble in the top especially when it's spinning slowly the wobble is not nearly as dramatic as i thought it would be let's try it one more time and the effect is still not dramatic but with its long spin the top is a great toy for space and reminds us of many spinning satellites we launched [Music] the digital computer inside that can provide the yoyo speed this yoyo is heavier when spinning it has more angular momentum and returns along the string more easily the turning rate measured by the yoyo's computer in revolutions per minute is 796. [Music] this is a sleeping yoyo but there is no downward force to hold the yoyo in the loop when it reaches the bottom of its string on earth jumping rope requires jumping unfortunately when we jump in space we're going to hit the ceiling every time here valeri decides to abandon the jumping part of the jump rope and concentrate on the spinning part this is not as easy as we expected either valeria had to raise his legs without pushing off then he has to swing the jump rope without hitting himself or the walls an unnecessarily long rope gets tangled easily finally it works valerie makes several good turns of the rope but he still tumbles and bounces into walls imagine you were jumping rope in space what new techniques would you try [Music] astrojax is a modern toy with three balls one attached to each end of a string and the other floating loose in between on earth you can hold one ball and exert a swinging motion on the other two after a few swings they will settle into a stable swing this does not happen readily in space although the movie shows hints of such motion possibly with more practice sergey could actually have achieved a more stable swing the middle ball continues to move chaotically unless it is next to the end ball we could not get the two balls to orbit each other in a stable fashion while we were holding on to the third now sergey holds the end balls and starts the center ball swinging this rotation gives the toy angular momentum which must be conserved after sergei lets loose when he releases the astro jacks the center ball moves forward with the other two balls swinging around it notice how the swinging balls have the exact same motion on opposite sides of the center ball a very elegant space motion [Music] the toy helicopter has a shaft and two blades each tilted to catch the air and move the helicopter forward or backward depending on the direction of spin first sergey spins the shaft of the toy helicopter and releases it as the blades turn the copter moves through the air in the second release the blades aren't turning as fast and the helicopter begins to tumble as the spinning slows now we've added a blade to the back end of the helicopter double blades definitely stabilize the helicopter due to the increased angular momentum but do you think that they increase the helicopter's speed [Music] we also brought along a small helicopter the smaller helicopter has smaller blades which produce less upward force but also less mass which makes it easier to move the two effects tend to cancel each other the double small helicopter has a large helicopter shaft between the two small copters it also works well on the second spin sergey turns the copter the other direction and it moves through the air in the opposite direction finally notice what will happen when we combine a large blade with a small one we discovered that it's more stable if the large blade leads the helicopter [Music] what if we add tape to one blade although the helicopter still flies it's definitely wobblier except for crashing into walls the helicopter works as well in the air of the space station as it does back on earth [Music] toy toys this next batch of toys is from russia japan and europe we call them toy toys because they are made for pure fun remember they're designed to be played within earth's gravity so how do you think a bear flips in space let's take a look wait a minute get that rubber duck out of there he's not one of the toys um sorry about that guys now back to the real space toys take it away peggy [Music] the flipping bear works because the twisted strings connecting the bears hands to the handle give the bear a twist as they are stretched on earth gravity then pulls the bear downward in space sergey must jerk the handles left and right to keep the bear swinging eventually the swinging stops and the bear may stop in any position not just hanging down as it does here on earth now we tape the swinging legs and wind up the bear watch how much better the bear swings the friction of the spinning motion of the loose arms and legs was stealing energy and momentum from the bear with modifications and possibly also with sergey's increasing experience in its operation the flipping bear becomes a good space acrobat [Music] on earth the ball is always hanging downward in space we could swing the ball while holding the toy sideways the strings exert a centripetal force as they hold onto the ball and keep it from flying away in a straight line at the other end each string exerts a torque on the hen's neck causing the head to move away from the disc in space there is no downward force to drop the heads in some instances shaking the hens causes the heads to move down but the hens do not behave exactly like they do on earth [Music] [Music] [Applause] on earth gravity causes the ball to fall into a cup and to stay there but not in space valerie tries to catch the ball in the cup and then on the spike at the end of the kendama in all attempts the ball bounces away from the kendama even pulling the kendama down and having the ball move toward it does not result in the ball staying in the cup next valeri pulls the ball and the kendama apart and releases them notice that the ball moves faster than the kendama in both attempts the ball is lighter so it must move faster to conserve linear momentum also the ball has less air resistance but this is only a minor contributor to the speed difference watch as valeria is finally successful in catching the ball in the cup see if you can discover his secret before he shows you notice that catching the ball requires a very slow impact even with the sticky tape that he put in the cup this ancient japanese toy requires modifications for microgravity [Music] [Music] the key to this bear's climbing success on earth and in space is friction when the string pulls straight through the path in the bear's hand the friction is minimal and the bear's hands move along the string when the string pulls at an angle through the bear's hand the friction is so great the hand does not move along this string by altering the pull the bear climbs along the strings hand by hand with one hand remaining still while the other moves upward on earth gravity will then pull the bear back down on the string in space we have to push the bear over the strings backwards [Music] games [Music] our next toys are all considered games with the exception of marbles there are a few sports games included in addition to my degree in chemistry and my master's in materials science engineering you might be interested to know i was chosen by the detroit lions in the nfl college draft [Music] so where's the football experiment in space maybe one day one of you can conduct that one for me when you become an astronaut okay investigators let the games begin [Music] sergey and i tried to play three-dimensional marbles sergey's first problem is releasing the balls without losing them they stick to his fingers a bit and begin moving apart as he pulls his hands away our goal is to hit a floating ball with the shooter if the ball leaves the area we score watch the trouble we have playing this simple game why is it harder to play marbles in space observe the difference that mass makes in an impact the dark rubber balls have more mass than the light wooden balls [Music] we're not any good at this [Music] watch the three different balls bounce notice that the result is the same on each bounce one black rubber ball leaves the wall traveling the fastest followed by the white wooden ball and then the slowest the second rubber ball with a red stripe the speed that the ball has leaving the wall depends on how much energy the ball keeps in its bounce the black rubber ball keeps most of its energy and leaves the wall with nearly the same speed as it has on impact the other rubber ball transfers most of its energy to the floor on the bounce and thus leaves the floor slowly note that on earth the dead ball would barely rise from the floor can you figure out why it bounces so high in the space station even though its speed is slow the striped rubber balls are made of a material that absorbs impacts with minimal bounce sergey bounces these into each other first now compare this to two colliding white wooden balls compare this reaction to what happens when the bouncy black balls collide now predict what will happen when sergei bounces a white ball into a black ball compare that with bouncing a black ball into a white one for the next experiment see if you can tell the difference when a striped ball hits a black ball these two balls have almost the same mass now watch a black ball hit a striped ball finally predict what will happen when a striped ball hits a white ball and how will the hit change when the white ball is hitting a striped ball what conclusions can you make from your observations of these different collisions [Music] bye we quickly discovered that the whole strategy for playing soccer must change when there's no force to hold our feet to the ground and keep our bodies from turning using feet to pass is always challenging but even more so in space where we can't stay on the floor but sometimes the aim is great and it's time to duck if you're operating the camera and watch how the angle of impact between the ball and the foot determines the speed and direction of the ball on earth and in space [Music] the astronauts are trying to kick with some force and not hold on to anything it is much more difficult to give the ball speed with no surface to push against with your legs let's watch how sergey and valeri play and think about how different it is to play soccer on earth [Music] remember that hands are off limits but your head is not soccer is an ancient game and a very popular one with people around the world now we know that astronauts can play it in the international space station as they orbit around the world as well [Music] when everything floats it's hard to begin a hockey game with a face off but valeria and sergey give it a try on earth this sport relies on gravity on the energy transferred to a puck when hit by a stick on the puck's speed and on what happens when the puck hits a wall in space it's easy to swing the stick but harder to keep the stick from touching the puck when the puck can bounce off in any direction passing back and forth works well until the puck is pushed against the floor then it bounces up and becomes hard to control this puck is a very soft plastic to protect the space hockey player passing back and forth can be mastered but there's no friction or downward force to hold the puck to the floor what if valeria and sergey decide to compete for the puck then it's challenging to control the puck and to take it away from your opponent it's easier to check with the puck on the locker than in the air and it's also easier to pass when there's a surface to help control the puck's motion sergey also discovered that the vent helps control the putt both the vent texture and the air pulling down through the vent both stabilize and slow down the puck's motion works well on the fan that's cheating to play hockey we need a goal so we'll use the hatch with valeria as the goalie i like your your mess valerie that was cool it's sergey's task to score by knocking the puck past valeria and through the hatch notice that it's hard to keep the puck still long enough to take a shot at the goal is it easier to block a shot on earth or in space look at valerie's stance with his feet and straps for stability it's hard to stay in place to protect the goal and it's fun to imagine new rules for a space hockey game [Music] lacrosse is originally a native american game played with sticks and a leather covered ball yet it may be the best game for space station our ball is a soft non-bouncy hacky sack ball notice how the nets on the lacrosse sticks trap the ball and make it easier to play watch how the ball moves after it leaves the stick notice how the follow through of the stick increases the speed of the ball and determines its direction also notice that each ball travels in a straight line with no dropping because of gravity this makes the ball easier to aim the reach of the lacrosse stick also helps in keeping track of the ball you can trap an escaping ball and it won't bounce out of the net lacrosse is definitely a game that works in space [Music] toys [Music] our final group of toys is called complex toys this means there are a lot of different factors that determine how they will perform in and out of gravity see if you can pick out some of those factors as you watch them do their thing on earth and in space [Music] density wand the density wand contains air water beads and stars the beads and stars are denser and sink to the bottom of the tube on earth in space all four mix together in the tube there is no gravity to separate the particles of different densities to separate them i swing the wand the air water beads and stars all move outward toward the end of the wand because of inertia their tendency to continue moving in a straight line while the plastic too produces an inward centripetal force that keeps the contents of the wand from flying away in a straight line soon i discovered that by shaking the wand i can disperse the particles then the particles remain dispersed because there's no downward force to separate them because of static electricity effects some particles are also clinging to the sides of the wand next i try rubbing the wand between my hands the action causes more beads to cling to the sides of the wand because the wand behaves differently in space it's a good toy for microgravity experiments like these [Music] this is a simple four-bladed boomerang made from cardstock notice that the boomerang's blades are curved inward as they're supposed to be the blades act as propellers pushing back against the air propelling the boomerang forward and making it spin upwards on earth the orientation of the blades is always changing and the boomerang is always falling as a result the whole boomerang changes from vertical to horizontal and returns to the thrower in every throw in space the boomerang continues to move forward and does not change orientation or begin curving back towards sergey only when the boomerang stops its propeller motion do the air currents in the station pull it gently downward origami [Music] i deploy it with a forward flick of the wrist while holding the flipper between my fingers notice that it flips just like it does on earth but it rises upward instead of floating downward because of gravity's pull in contrast to some of the other toys the flipper is light enough that air currents and air resistance are sufficient to change its axis of rotation and its rotation rate quickly this is an ancient origami toy that works well in a modern space station and those were the toys that were experimented with during our mission i hope you enjoyed observing them as much as we enjoyed experimenting with them on behalf of the expedition 5 crew i wish you investigators good luck on your toy research thanks peggy now if you'd like to find out more about expedition 5 or the international space station go to this nasa website and it's for the toys well you've seen the experiments now it's up to you to draw your conclusions remember to think about what changed and what stayed the same once the toys were brought into space i'm sure your research will be toy rific for international toys in space i'm astronaut little melvin thanks for joining us [Music] so you