Here is a video of some astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).  It depicts some common (and uncommon) activities that they do aboard it.  It has background music – so turn down your volume if you are at work.

As you can see, astronauts in space operate in a ‘zero-gravity’ environment.  They float around effortlessly and don’t fall toward the ‘floor’ of the space station.  Water, in a space station such as the ISS, automatically assumes the shape of a ball and floats around.  This is indeed, quite a strange environment.  But have you ever stopped and wondered – why are the astronauts actually floating?  Is it because there is no gravity in outer space?  Is it because the earth’s pull is so weak that it no longer affects them?  Is it because they are constantly being pushed away from the earth by rockets?  Or is it something more subtle?  In this post, we shall explore the phenomenon of micro-gravity.

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