ACE-M-2 (Advanced Colloids Experiment-Microscopy-2): Sometimes it’s hard to tell a gas from a liquid. Advanced Colloids Experiment-Microscopy-2 (ACE-M-2) observes the microscopic behavior of liquids and gases separating from each other. The investigation examines the behavior of model (colloid rich) liquids and model (colloid poor) gases near the critical point, or the point at which there is no distinct boundary between the two phases. ACE-M-2 uses a new microscope to record micro-scale events on short time scales, while previous experiments observed large-scale behavior over many weeks. Liquids and gases of the same material usually have different densities, so they would behave differently under the influence of gravity, making the microgravity environment of the International Space Station ideal for these experiments.

Principal Investigator(s) : David A. Weitz, Ph.D., Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s): Peter J Lu, Ph.D., Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States