Editing ThreeDimensionalConfigurations/BinaryFission (section)

=Related Discussions=
==Fission in Nuclear Physics==
The nuclear physics community also draws an analogy between the fission of a rotating fluid drop and the spontaneous fission of atomic nuclei; see, for example, the figure associated with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission#Energetics Wikipedia discussion of the energetics of nuclear fission].

See also [https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967ApJ...148..825R/abstract C. E. Rosenkilde (1967b)], ApJ, 148, 825:  ''The tensor virial-theorem including viscous stress and the oscillations of a Maclaurin spheroid''.  The first few lines of the Appendix of this paper state &hellip;
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"The virial method has recently been extended to phenomena of interest in the theory of nuclear fission ([https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967JMP.....8...98R/abstract Rosenkilde 1967a)]</font>, Journal of Mathematical Physics, 8, 98 <font color="green">&hellip;  For a rotating, charged, inviscid liquid drop held together by surface tension, there exist axisymmetric figures of equilibrium which are nearly spheroids.  Moreover, prolate as well as oblate figures are possible.  If these figures are assumed to be spheroids, then the investigation (based on the virial method) of their stability closely resembles the corresponding investigation for the self-gravitating Maclaurin spheroids &hellip;"
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==Drop Dynamics Experiments==
[On '''<font color="red">1 January 2014</font>''', J. E. Tohline wrote ...] As I was putting this chapter together, I had difficulty documenting the various drop dynamics experiments that have been conducted by astronauts in various Earth-orbiting (zero <math>g</math>) environments.  Here is the relevant information that I have found, to date.
===Skylab===
Experiments showing the ''fission'' of liquid drops were evidently conducted during the Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4 missions (circa 1973-1974).  
* As has been documented in a short film review written by Howard Voss and published in the [http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.10227 American Journal of Physics (44/10, 1021, Oct 1976)], film footage from a variety of Skylab experiments was produced by NASA, edited by Thomas Campbell &amp; Robert Fuller, and, beginning in 1976, distributed as 12 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_film Super 8] film loops by the [http://www.aapt.org/ American Association of Physics Teachers] (AAPT).
* As is documented in [http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~lecturedemonstrations/Linked%20files/Media%20library/Skylab%20guide%20(videodisc).pdf A Teacher's Guide for the Skylab Physics Videodisc] the content of all 12 Super 8 film loops was made available for distribution in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodisc Videodisc] format in 1987 through the [http://www.aapt.org/ AAPT].
* The YouTube video referenced in and linked to the caption of Figure 1, above, is the digitized version of the Skylab film loop that illustrates fission of a water droplet.

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<font size="-1">According to the [http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~lecturedemonstrations/Linked%20files/Media%20library/Skylab%20guide%20(videodisc).pdf Teacher's Guide] mentioned above, the activities shown in the above-referenced films were carried out by three teams of Skylab Astronauts:</font>
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[[File:SkylabAstronauts.jpg|500px|center|Skylab Astronauts]]
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[[File:Skylab_2_Kerwin3.jpg|thumb|Kerwin blows water droplet from a straw]]
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[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_2 Skylab 2] (First Team) 
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===Space Shuttle Flights===
Experiments illustrating the dynamical behavior of liquid drops were conducted during several space shuttle missions.  Some experiments were performed inside the European Space Agency's "spacelab module" and others were performed with the aid of a "Drop Physics Module (DPM)" inside the United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML), each being a "portable" laboratory that was housed in the shuttle's payload bay.
* [[File:Sts51b_patch.jpg|100px|right|Spacelab 3]]Wang, Trinh, Croonquist, and Elleman (1986; [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1986PhRvL..56..452W Physical Review Letters, 56, 452]) report results from a controlled drop dynamics experiment that was conducted during the "Spacelab III mission" (see the final acknowledgement paragraph of their paper), which took place during shuttle flight [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-B STS-51-B (29 April - 6 May 1985)].  Taylor Wang &#8212; one of the authors of this ''PRL'' publication &#8212; flew as one of the seven members of the space shuttle crew, specifically as Payload Specialist 2.  His narrated account of some of the experimental activities is available, beginning at 7 minutes 32 seconds into the [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle17.htm STS-51B "Post Flight Presentation" video].
* [[File:fluid_drop.jpg|100px|right|frame|USML-1 Droplet Fission]]Another mission &#8212; [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-50.html USML-1 during shuttle flight STS-50] &#8212; took place in early 1992. According to [http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/95/release_1995_9571.html information provided by NASA/JPL's public information office], "&#8230; the transition of rotating liquid drops into a 'dog-bone,' or two-lobed shape, was studied in detail &#8230;"  As can be seen, beginning at 2 minutes 28 seconds into the [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle48.htm STS-50 "Post Flight Presentation" video], Eugene Trinh flew was one of the members of this shuttle mission who conducted these DMP experiments.  Detailed results from DPM experiments during the USML-1 mission have been published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics:  T. G. Wang, A. V. Anilkumar, C. P. Lee and K. C. Lin (1994).  ''Bifurcation of rotating liquid drops: results from USML-1 experiments in Space.'' [http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022112094002612 Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 276, pp 389-403]
* I think that the three-frame black &amp; white image shown here on the right presents a result from mission USML-1.  That is how this image is referenced in an [http://www.phys.lsu.edu/astro/movie_captions/fission.html online discussion of fission] that I put together about a decade ago.
* Yet another mission &#8212; [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-73.html USML-2 during shuttle flight STS-73] &#8212; took place in the fall of 1995.  Some additional drop dynamics experiments were conducted during this mission &#8212; see, for example, about 7 minutes and 40 seconds into the [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle72.htm STS-73 "Post Flight Presentation" video].  Lee, Anilkumar, Hmelo, &amp; Wang (1998; [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998JFM...354...43L Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 354, 43]) report results from these controlled drop dynamics experiments.

===International Space Station===
* See the two "Gallery of Fluid Motions" mpg movies that accompany the preprint by [http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.4073v1 Ueno et al. (2012)].

==Online References==
* [http://www.phys.lsu.edu/astro/movie_captions/fission.html The Fission Mechanism for Binary Star Formation]
* [[LSUsimulations|Fission Simulations at LSU]]; previous html version located [http://www.phys.lsu.edu/faculty/tohline/fission.movies.html here]
* T. G. Wang, A. V. Anilkumar, C. P. Lee and K. C. Lin (1994). ''Bifurcation of rotating liquid drops: results from USML-1 experiments in Space.'' [http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022112094002612 Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 276, pp 389-403]
* [http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/18294/1/99-1767.pdf Ohsaka &amp; Trinh (19xx)]

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