Return to the DIME Home Page.


Dropping In a Microgravity Environment

    NASA Drop Tower Competition for High-School-Aged Student Teams

    Dime coin graphic DIME Dime coin graphic

    Summary of DIME 2006

    Bay HS team with their experiment
    Bay High School team from Bay Village, Ohio stand with their experiment in the drop rig at DIME Drop Days 2006.
    Bay HS team prepares their experiment
    The Bay team prepares their experiment by loading the magnetic fluid into the containers.
    03.JPG
    The DIME team from Tualatin High School in Tualatin, Oregon stand with their experiment in the drop rig at DIME Drop Days 2006.
    04.JPG
    The DIME team from Tualatin High School examine their data immediately after their experiment was dropped.
    05.JPG
    The DIME team from Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois stand with their experiment in the drop rig at DIME Drop Days 2006.
    06.JPG
    The DIME team from Glenbrook North High School prepare their experiment for another drop operation.
    07.JPG
    The Winton Woods High School team from Cincinnati, Ohio stand with their experiment in the drop rig at DIME Drop Days 2006.
    08.JPG
    The Winton Woods team's apparatus nearly ready for the next drop operation.
    09.JPG
    The Tualatin High School team's experiment being tested prior to the next drop. Their experiment had capillary tubes in small beakers containing liquid.
    10.JPG
    The Glenbrook High School team's experiment nearly ready for the next drop. Their experiment had magnetorheological fluids within a magnetic field.
    11.JPG
    The team from Columbus, Georgia and their NASA mentor await their turn to operate their experiment in the drop tower.
    12.JPG
    The teams from Glenbrook North High School and Winton Woods High School take a break in front of the drop tower.
    13.JPG
    The teams from Tualatin High School and Bay High School take a break in front of the drop tower.
    The Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) high-school team competition conducted DIME Drop Days in April 2006 at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) 2.2-Second Drop Tower. The four participating high-school student teams brought their experiments to GRC and operated them in the drop tower just as regular NASA and academic researchers accomplish their research goals.

    The DIME 2006 selected experiments and their teams were:

    • Fluid Dynamics in Microgravity
      Advisor: Chris Murray
      Tualatin High School
      Tualatin, Oregon
    • Project Magnetics: Analysis of Magnetorheological Fluids Under Microgravity Conditions
      Advisor: Lynne Zielinski
      Glenbrook North High School
      Northbrook, Illinois
    • The Vortex Effect
      Advisor: Russel Pinkerton
      Winton Woods High School
      Cincinnati, Ohio
    • Ferrofluid Dynamics
      Advisor: Anne Mowery
      Bay High School
      Bay Village, Ohio

    All of the teams' experiments were operated in the drop tower. Similar to projects conducted by university and NASA researchers, there were surprises in the operations and results for all teams' experiments. Operational difficulties were experienced in each of the experiments but the teams analyzed the problem and developed corrective actions. Each team made modifications to their experiment and procedures over the course of the drops that each team accomplished.

    The Drop Days activities in the drop tower kept the student busy preparing their experiment, installing their experiment into the facility drag shield, preparing the facility for the drop, the release of the experiment, and the fall down the drop tower. After the drop, the students, their advisor, and the team's NASA mentor examined the video data. Modifications for second and third drops were then discussed.

    During DIME Drop Days the students also participated in microgravity workshops and a short NASA GRC facility tour.

    DIME is a school-year-long activity where a team is formed to develop an experiment concept and write a proposal for accomplishing the experiment. GRC microgravity scientists and engineers select the top four proposals for those teams to further develop and build their experiment. When completed, the experiments are sent to GRC for operation in the drop tower. This year, the student teams raised their own travel funds for four student team members and their adult advisor to visit GRC for the three-day DIME Drop Days. DIME 2006 was the sixth year for DIME and was the fourth year as a nation-wide program.

    The DIME WWW page is located at this URL:
    http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/DIME.html

Return to top of page