Ask Astronaut Greg Chamitoff: Light a Match!

[nullrox]

You guys want to know what fire looks like in zero gravity? I don't know. . .why don't you look at the GIANT BALL OF FIRE THAT'S KEEPING YOU ALIVE!

[20ZZ20]

guys the quality is shit because they aren't going to buy a £1000 camera to make a couple of videos

[bassman7890]

so it puts itself out pretty quickly but he's still not allowed to do it...

[Angels0Vengeance]

it looks like he has a microwave full of marshmallows in the background

[Zeldakitteh]

Event Horizon. 

[MesaATLien]

As much as I enjoy fire like everyone else, y'all must be crazy if you think NASA is going to let him light a match in an almost 100% oxygen environment inside a $100 billion dollar facility. The good Dr. Chamitoff, along with everyone else, would go up in flames reeeaaaal quick. Apollo 1, anyone? Nah, it ain't happening.

[BowlOfRed]

@MesaATLien The shuttle and ISS maintain standard atmospheric compositions of nitrogen and oxygen. It is not 100% oxygen. You'll note that astronauts have to go through a preparation before spacewalks to reduce nitrogen in the blood.

[jamma246]

@MesaATLien You are kidding right? If it was near 100% oxygen, he would probably be dead by now.

[jamma246]

@jamma246 Actually, what I said isn't quite true. Breathing in 100% oxygen at normal pressure can be harmful, although you can get by on it at a lower pressure. Still, it wouldn't be very wise to make their astronauts breath 100% oxygen at normal pressure for weeks on end especially when you add the huge risk of setting off a fire.

[wRisingphoenixw]

@jamma246 Even in pure oxygen needs fuel to combust. A match lit in a zero g invironment surrounded by pure oxygen would destroy it's fuel source almost instantly, probably before it could even ignite anything nearby. Astronauts breath a normal atmospheric mixture of oxygen and nitrogen so the primary risk involved isn't explosion, but rather the accelarated consumption of oxygen and the creation of harmful carbon oxides.

[Braeden123698745]

You see that comp in the background that's a Thinkpad a PC take the Steve Jobs.

[Pimpmastahanhduece]

i really dont see why you couldnt go into the air lock and light a match, hell, you could probably sneak a bathroom air purifier with you and smoke cigarettes if you just disable the air censors.

[TheMoxlas]

I've muted the video and waited for fire, it never came, I guess NASA don't have matches either.

[ImRichRu]

it would not put itself out..

convection still happens in microgravity. youtube has proof of this with the boiling water in microgravity and fire suffocation in microgravity.

the warmer air will always migrate to the cold air and create an air current

[gunterdak]

please remember that all NASA flights are non -smoking, and that tampering with the smoke detectors in the lavatories is a violation of federal law

[UnchangeableBird]

You sir, are an enormous pussy!!! What a pussy, I mean, honestly. Why don't they just do it in an enclosed container? Stop being a boner wimp.

[TheInsanityExecutive]

the fire would expand and diffuse its possible it could become a threat to him and more importantly the equipment but it really does depend on the airflow I believe

[KezefAdirion]

Ok... so if in theory the eventual loss of convection due to microgravity puts the flame out, why can't there be some kind of controlled experiment to test the theory and get actual results? I can think of several different ways to do that safely so there's no danger presented to the crew, the station, or the atmosphere inside the station. This seems like the kind of question we should have already answered years ago.

[flakerpower]

@KezefAdirion Here´s the test you proposed. /watch?v=UjGCyELrTGc&feature=r­elated

[qed100]

@KezefAdirion You're right, it is possible to test, and it has been. As it turns out, flame physics has been experimented with aboard the ISS under controlled conditions. It's also been toyed with more casually aboard the Russian space station Mir, where cosmonauts were allowed to smoke cigarettes, which they lit up using wooden matches.

[migkid]

sure it will be a circle! Under zero gravity you have even forces surrounding the object. Why do you think the sun is a circle? The only thing that will keep the sun a circle, or any sort of fire stable as a circle is its internal mass weight. Cant be that complicated.

[weeman7970]

@migkid The moon is round but it's not on fire.

[migkid]

@weeman7970 it cooled down just like my beer

[weeman7970]

@migkid Your beer wasn't on fire though.

[jvujuc]

Thnx pimpa!

[hayesism]

So it's too dangerous to start a fire that would immediately put itself out?

[asherael]

@hayesism He'd smoke up the cabin. 

[KezefAdirion]

@hayesism lol, exactly!

[UnkleSi]

For the video everyone WANTS to see, search for 'zero gravity fire'

[bobsanchez007]

so to sum up in what he did in 3 minute s 12 seconds fire needs oxygen to ignite right? right ok so there is no and i mean no oxygen in space - the end

[Verradonairun]

@bobsanchez007 The boy asked the astronaut how a flame would behave in a 0-gravity environment, not necessarily space. It is possible for an 11 dimensional extend (space) that is not affected by gravity, to contain oxygen ;-)

[bobsanchez007]

so to sum up in what he did in 3 minutes 12 seconds fire needs oxygen to ignite right? right ok so there is no and i mean no oxygen in space - the end

[Ledamonster]

And PLEASE don't light a match!!! Didn't you guys see what happened to the space craft that had a spark and mingled with the oxygen? Velcro that they have EVERY foot of the ship is explosively flammable with oxygen and a spark. I like this guy so NO MATCH PLEASE!

[Ledamonster]

HOTTY ! ! !

I'd totally !@#$ that! hahaha ( :

[Ledamonster]

woops... didn't see he was wearing a ring... my appologies ( : but... he's still cute @Ledamonster

[Finkldorkin]

I want to see it!!!

LIGHT THE MATCH !!! LIGHT THE MATCH!!!

[losthaze]

nasa can build a shuttle and keep men in space but they can't give them a good quality video camera?

[lank05]

It's the signal back to earth that kills the quality

[mololol]

@losthaze watch some of the later videos from the ISS. they are HD.

[zephir124]

@losthaze maybe because of limited bandwidth

[smeghead666]

@losthaze EVERYTHING is built by the lowest bidder for the cheapest price :) so given the choice between a quickcam and a pro 9000 they're gonna choose to build one themselves for cheaper using a loo roll, some sticky-back plastic and a yoghurt pot.

It's the NASA way baby

[3xxiled]

@losthaze If you've ever watched any of the NASA's ISS videos they are loaded with high end expensive camera equipment. In fact when I saw their camera equipment my heart exploded thinking

[Bollalillo]

@losthaze noise from the tour down to earth, and probably its not needed at HD camera so make contact:)

[roderik1990]

@losthaze do you know a video cam that will survive the trip?

[roderik1990]

@losthaze do you know a video cam that will survive the trip? that is also as light as possible

[frosty9595]

@losthaze The issue is sending the data back to earth i belive.

[mferrusca]

@losthaze i'd like to think that the low quality has something to do with producing small-size files, but well, with so many codecs and these short 3-min clips, i guess you're right.

[Entropian2012]

@losthaze lets just say there is things in space that they dont want to be clearly seen

[animebabelkitty]

@losthaze Yea, sucks that you can't get a good image over hundreds of kilometers through a radio transmission

[losthaze]

@animebabelkitty yeah, it does suck considering that Dish Network manages to send Live HDTV via satellite to millions of people worldwide!!!

[BONNYZfasia]

does anyone knows if blood gets same oxidation in the space or it keeps the same ph ?

[michalchik]

@BONNYZfasia basically yes

[lateboy4]

You can strap humans to a giant rocket, shoot them into space with nothing to save them if anything goes wrong but you cant light a match thats probs gonna put itself out anyway because it dangerous?

Be a man, LIGHT A BLOODY MATCH !!

[michalchik]

@lateboy4 3 US astronauts have died in fires associated with high oxygen atmospheres. They don't mess with it unless it is in a planned controlled experiment.

[Spy0nu]

Fire eat air.Idiot question and stuff to do in an space station.

[PCGamerPortal]

@Spy0nu zero gravity does not neccesairly mean vacuum.

[Pimpmastahanhduece]

stop watching after he said he cant light anything on fire.

[seanmm318]

@Pimpmastahanhduece i didnt watch i just read your comment. thanks for saving me time.

[Faralite]

@Pimpmastahanhduece

"I'm going to show you fire in zero gravity by lighting this plastic thingy here"

*ALERT*

*ALERT*

*STABILIZATION SYSTEM MALFUNCTION*

[TheSpartanPhalanx]

@Pimpmastahanhduece stopped watching after reading your comment about how he can't light anything on fire

[Daffy711]

@TheSpartanPhalanx stopped watching after reading your comment about reading another comment about how he can't light anything on fire...

[TheSpartanPhalanx]

@Daffy711 touche..

[SaphireKnight87]

Could water in space, with a bubble in it feed a fire if the fire was in the bubble??

[Sonyoooo3]

Is there a bed capsul that are compressed air? I was thinking if scientist can realy create water out of sand in the moon can this somehow make air by cooking the water and use it for the air compressesd bed capsul?.

[ray666]

theres a video on youtube that show a match lighted on microgravity environnement.

[scissormetimbers8]

they wouldnt risk starting a fire in a space capsule for some utube video

[XxnesiexX]

thats in kibo the japanees module plus he said thers been a fire up there ,all the circulation went off like what would happen in a fire and it wasn't for no reason

[mobspeak]

That's pretty stupid he's contradicting himself, he said they don't let him light fires up there.. ok if fires put themselves out like he also stated near the end of this vid then what would be the problem..? lame,,

[XxnesiexX]

yea i agree how does he know thta fires up there generally put them selves out but he also says they don't let me light any fires

[Completedaudt]

You know I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'm pretty sure that lighting a match in an contained oxygen rich atmosphere would not result in a very life compatible situation. However, on previous missions(MIR), they have produced a flame in a small controlled unit, which is how he knows it would go out. The small control unit also contained "Air" and not the blend of O2/N that the Astronauts require for support.

[XxnesiexX]

yep i dont think it would be a life compatable situation but in the event of a fire the circulation is turned off and stops oxygen circulating and they go to the escape module

[NomadicReprobate]

He's not contradicting himself. They're not allowed to start fires in the station - that does not mean fires haven't happened.

He was just stating the fact that fires don't last long in zero gravity.

[duffman121212]

That's pretty awesome. but I want to see it!!! Ask the nasa guys if they can make an exception to demonstrate this!!

[Ymee445]

So is the lack of convection in space the reason for solar streams of energy? The high heat energy escaping from the sun in order to reach a cooler destination?

[jhernandez16]

dang hes smart!

[XxnesiexX]

you have to be really smart to be an astronaut

[DiegoFernandezCool]

Hi Greg, emm, mabe you don't know me, but i do know you, but that another story, well, emm, the problem is that i have been trying to post a comment in the first video, but the computer does not let me, mabe it is because it haves my mail, what should i do?

[auPointX]

oh yeah, let the man from space fix your computer ;D

[DiegoFernandezCool]

well, i laughed, but that was kind of bad. u_u

[Snowman374th]

You can't if you don't sign in.

If you did that already then OOPS!

[XxnesiexX]

try signing in making sure you haven't posted too much comments

[bigchunk1]

COOL! DO IT!

[Josephs08]

Why don't you wear your Astronaut Gear?

And where abouts in Space are you?

[Sabiancym]

That is possibly the most retarded questions I've seen.

[fscher]

you obviously didnt see the whole video. Fires in space have a spherical shape and burn themselves out very quickly because they cannot maintain convection. Did you already know that?

[Sabiancym]

I wasn't referring to the video. I was referring to Josephs08's questions.

Hence, the indent of my comment under his.

[okidot]

i bet he is in his garden shed making the videos lol :P just kidding. pretty interesting video, i always wondered how a flame would act with hardly any limited oxygen and no gravity.

[xXFooXx]

rofl, thats not a bad concept

[NmindN]

very interesting!

[rollingcokebag]

Hey Greg, i'm a chef from north pole, alaska i'm curious if you ever get bored of the space food they send you and get creative? is it possible to cook with induction in space since there is no flame? Steve Pike.

[iLove127]

what do you eat and drink up there? and is it good?

franklin from washington state!

[leekymkween]

you can purchase space food at your supermarket. It's just dehydrated or in a powdery consistency.

I'm pretty sure KFC's potato in potato n gravey is actually space food. I've tried it at a space expo when i was a kid and couldn't tell the difference between the two!

[UnkleSi]

wow that is such a good question. Great answer too. A demo in some kind of 'safe' container would be AWESOME to see. Well done NASA on doing this. Very exctiting. To the video admin person - can you shorten the intro music and maybe even make it a bit less noisy. It's a pain in the ass, I just want to see the astronaut doing his thing.. But Kudos otherwise, great vids!

[benjamincoors]

what are you gonna do when the economy collapses and you are stuck up there because there is no more money left to get you down?

[adjcovgre18]

lol

[vassekb]

hahaha

[Grrraig]

Graig Burns in Enderby BC Canada: Is your atmosphere pure O2 or is it an oxy-15% nitro - 85% mix? Since weight is at a premium shipping up that nitro would get costly.

[hymsmackyboy]

how do you satify your sexual desires up there?

[yuthura567]

that's really cool..

[LouDiamondPhilips199]

Mr. Chamitoff, this is no time for your brand of bitter sweet folk rock!

[Gyuri57]

Would be nice to see a demonstration :)

[icantsweep]

space-air. artificial gravity. cooler space atmosphere.

Three of many things which are ludicrous

Three of many things which make you a douche.

[Ev3rliving]

You have to be joking. Seldom have I seen this degree of misunderstanding of physics.

[bitoart]

LOL - you might want to check out a physics book more recent than something by Galileo.

[bitoart]

my last comment was directed toward robertjvictor with his space either and floating space stations.

[Athosdlf]

Thank you.

[CarlosDeleon93]

Haha, the space station doesn't "stay up". It is in orbit, a combination of gravity and inertia. Stop using a thesaurus on Yotube just to sound smart... no one cares.

[DogSoop]

hi its trevor 15 from los angeles

can you take your camera and get some footage of earth? it would be really beautiful and i'd appreciate it if you could

thanks

[itsthatshit]

so if there is no oxygen to replenish the flame how do stars, i.e. our sun continue to burn??? And...how is it George Bush's fault???

[pandacommanda]

Stars don't undergo combustion. Their energy is due to nuclear fusion- a phenomenon totally different and far more powerful than combustion with oxygen.

[CarlosDeleon93]

The Sun glows because it's a big ball of gas, and nuclear fusion is taking place in its core. Nuclear fusion occurs when one proton smashes into another proton so hard that they stick together and release some energy. This energy then heats up other materials (protons and electrons) nearby. This heating eventually grows out from the center of the star to the outside, leaving the surface and radiating out into space to be the heat and light we know stars emit.

Note: I found this on WikiAnswers

[yeawowyea]

it would feel funny! wonder if gratviey effects it :)

[warbirds13]

DOES WHACKING OFF FEEL DIFFERENT?

[Sampson021]

ha ha ha ha ha

[bboyflapps]

u can do it upside down

[SuperLuigiGalaxy242]

He said at the end "fire generally put themselves out.". Does this mean that sometimes it doesn't put itself out?

[pwnttothemax]

if you were next to an air vent it would take longer, as the stream of air could allow new oxygen to reach the fire... i think he meant it in that sense

[TravMcTavish]

So to sum up your question Donald. No they can't do it because it is all fake. They cover it up by saying even if he could light one it wouldn't work anyway. Such a scam, but a good laugh anyway.

[Ganjaranger]

when u see the earth from up there,do you in any how have an objective idea of life and humans intellect? do u still understand how wars and mass actions of hate and violence can still take place in the world? ROSAK from Trancoso, SALVADOR DE BAHIA , BRAZIL

[kalisa3]

Way to go Ashland, OH! Hey, and these videos are great!

[JSpraya]

aaww light a match !!

[stinko444]

what would happen if you fired a weapon would the bullet no go anywhere? aand how do you deal with space junk? John from Raliegh North Carolina

[TreborTheWise]

-the bullet would continue in a straight path until it hits something,

-most space junk is generally burnt; the gravity from earth would eventually bring it closer and faster towards it creating friction so powerful it burns the junk once it enters the atmosphere

[rb373]

gravity isn't what makes the bullet go forward, it's the opposite reaction to the hammer hitting the gunpowder, shooting off the bullet, the bullet would simply not hit the ground at the end

[thesouthparkguy]

Oxygen is not combustible. Fire is an exothermic chemical reaction between a fuel and oxygen, so Oxygen on it's own won't burn. There must be some sort of fuel that's being oxidized. However, a pure oxygen environment would make fires burn more rapidly as was tragically demonstrated on Apollo 1.

[BigBadBill454]

he looks baked

[casper0012]

Yeah.. because you can smuggle drugs onto a multi-billion dollar spaceship and off the fucking earth.

Some people's eyes are squinty.

[Cramerica66]

Well sadly that is possible.... But definatly not profesional.

[LoCoBoi187]

oxygen is combustable...u light a match...BOOM

[lithiumdeuteride]

Oh, really? Which part is the oxidizer? The oxygen, or the oxygen?

[LoCoBoi187]

dude oxygen is combustable...

[lithiumdeuteride]

The air you breathe is 21% oxygen. If oxygen were flammable, lighting a match would set the entire world on fire.

There is a second possibility, however, and that is that you're completely daft, and combustion is really an exothermic reaction between oxygen and a fuel (usually made of hydrogen and carbon). Without a fuel present, oxygen does nothing.

[kewlkrew14]

dont you have better things to do in space,,,no jk

[KineticFrenetic]

Is it me or does this guy look like a young Beau Bridges?

[kaoskastle]

Oh, shoot. Now that you mention it...

Crap. Now all I'm gonna see is Beau Bridges.

IN SPACE.

[Circumcisions]

At 1:35 does he smack his head against something in front of him? Hahaha that would rule...

[YTwatchdawg]

Haircuts and lighting matches. This is fluff. I want to know about the mining going on on the moon. How large are the alien craft? Are all of the domed cities found in craters only? Are the miners from Mars or another planet?

[Cobra23King]

greg are you part asian?

[n3rdbear]

lol that's what I thought also

[dancingseries]

Cool! I'm gonna post a video responce asking a question.

[Sheeple73]

LOL Go get em!!!

[Gunstick]

Great, a new way to put out forest fires. Just switch off the gravity. LOL

[wallacegrommit]

so a match would in theory be like a miniature sun for the split instant it is ignited before it burnt itself out?

[congolo3001]

y is moving around????

its making me dizzy

[johkonut]

no gravity...

[steveoinflorida]

Dude ! If he lit a match in there the whole space station would blow up...! The station is filled with enriched oxygen. Remember in the sixies when those astronauts got killed in the capusle on the ground from a spark in some wiring..?

[RickChimera]

Interesting.

[kristal661]

We had someone that worked at nasa vist our school he said when your up in space you get what i call "puffy cheeks and chicken leg sindrum" lol tell me more about it

[b0w5er]

can you film the earth from space or let the camera off in zero gravity?

[247dexter247]

ignorance is bliss

[Esperanzafleet69]

had to youtube this after watching event horizon.. lawrence fishburn talks about it and it sounded like it looked amazing.. guess no go tho :(

[Omondii]

I find these videos very interesting

[thewalrus101123]

what if the fire was burning from some different sort of fuel, such as gasoline, i wonder if that would have a different effect

[BCzepa]

what do you mean? he wasnt talking about any fire fuel in particular. it would obviously be the same.

fire runs out of oxygen = gone.

[JangosSoulja]

Not in all cases. If the burning material produces a minimum amount of oxygen itself while burning, and it is enough to keep the fire, it can burn even under water.

[XxnesiexX]

wait a minute are you saying that there was a fire up there???

can i see a video of that?

great music

what would happen if u lit a match outside the ISS(of course oyu have to giv it oxygen for it to light and to keep alight) you just said that there was a fire in space, sometimes i wonder what you astronauts get up to? if i were you i'd probaly annoy MC so much they'd bring me back down to earth immediatly or let me go out into space

[I3annanaMan]

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT!

[anmoose]

Fascinating! I'd love to see a demonstration, but I understand the need to not go there. I'd never thought of it before, but yeah, hot air can't very well rise when there's no "up."

Moosie

[jeffsadowski]

I want to see that experiment also.

[diovisi]

tthats great! i wish i could see an example

[foley15136]

So I guess that fire scene (on the ship) in "Red Planet" was B.S.

[Arghira]

WOW AWESOME!