See Soundwaves in Space

By Nancy Atkinson - May 4, 2012 at 6:50 PM UTC | Physics

What fun! The science officer aboard the International Space Station, Don Pettit, does some simple but amazing science in his series,

Science Off the Sphere

. In his latest video, Pettit allows us to 'see' sound waves in space.

"I'm amazed at how much fun you can with something as simple as a set of speakers from your laptop computer and a splash of water," said Pettit who added that he wanted to see how sound waves would affect water droplets "without the complications of gravity."

Make sure you watch to the very end to rock out with Pettit and see the variations between the woofer and tweeter on the speaker and how the different sounds affect the water drops.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com