Heat Flow and Convection Demonstration Experiments Aboard Apollo 14

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Abstract
A group of experiments was conducted by Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart A. Roosa during the lunar flyback on 7 Fehruary 1971 to obtain information on heat flow and convection in gases and liquids in an environment of less than 10-6g gravity. Flow observations and thermal data have shown that: (i) there are, as expected, convective motions caused by surface tension gradients in a plane liquid layer with a free upper surface; (ii) heat flow in enclosed liquids and gases occurs mainly by diffusive heat conduction; and (iii) some convective processes, whose characteristics are not fully known, add to the heat transfer.