Creation of Fluid Art under Microgravity Using Free-Fall

Abstract

The time is approaching when space travel will become a reality. What new art will emerge in the space age is an important issue. We have been creating art called “fluid art” using fluid dynamics. Since what kind of new fluid art could emerge under zero-gravity is one example of how art should be in the space era, we plan to create fluid art under zero-gravity or microgravity. To create microgravity on the ground, we designed and constructed a system that creates microgravity using free-fall. This system can create microgravity for about 0.5 s by free-falling a device that generates fluid art from a height of 1.5 m. “Sound of Ikebana, ” one of the fluid art we have been creating using the vibration of sound, uses a phenomenon that occurs in about 0.5 s and matches well with the constructed microgravity generation system. We confirmed that a new type of fluid art emerged using this system, where the height the fluid jumped up was significantly larger than under normal gravity.