Dropping in a Microgravity Environment (DIME) is an annual contest held by

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Glenn Research Center NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park, Ohio, Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a s ...

. Teams of high school students, with one "faculty adviser", from anywhere in the

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or its territories can enter. The teams prepare and submit proposals for research to be performed; four teams are selected to travel to the Glenn Research Center and perform their experiments at the Zero Gravity Research Facility, in the "

drop tower A drop tower is a type of amusement park ride incorporating a central tower structure with one or more gondolas attached. In a typical modern configuration, each gondola carrying riders is lifted to the top of the tower and then released t ...

", a deep shaft that can be completely depressurized and thus simulate

microgravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

when an object is in

free fall In classical mechanics, free fall is any motion of a physical object, body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. A freely falling object may not necessarily be falling down in the vertical direction. If the common definition of the word ...

in it. A further four teams' experiments are selected and conducted by the Center staff. The teams are responsible for writing their proposals, assembly of the necessary equipment if their experiments are chosen to be performed, testing of the setups at their respective homes, and preparation and submission of reports to NASA about their results."DIME and WING." Nancy R. Hall. NASA Glenn Research Center. May 31, 2011. Web. Accessed August 19, 2011.

History

The DIME competition was first held in 2001 with two winning teams selected, both from Ohio. The contests continued, with an increasing number and diversity of winning teams, through 2006. In 2007, the contests were suspended because of a decrease in emphasis on microgravity research in the budget, not enough money was available to continue it. They were resumed in 2009https://web.archive.org/web/20090530140515/http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/DIME.html with the selection of 11 winners (3 Tier III winners were chosen). A program for grade 6-9 students called WING was also announced in 2009. The number of winning teams was set at 8 in 2010, but due to budget cuts it was reduced to 4 in 2011, eliminating Tier II. The future of the program is unclear.

Guidelines

In order to be selected, there must be a clear research question and a clear

hypothesis A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess o ...

that is related to the question. The hypothesis must be testable in 2.2 seconds, and gravity must be the experimental variable of the experiment. The utility of the proposed experiment in space exploration is an important criterion. The experimental apparatus may not be larger than a cube with sides of . For safety reasons, the following are not allowed: *Pressures more than 2 atm *

Radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

materials *Hazardous chemicals *Biological samples (with the exception of common household materials) or living organisms All electrical circuits must have circuit diagrams and be approved by Glenn staff. Wires must meet national standards."Dropping in a Microgravity Environment; Experiment Design Requirements." NASA Glenn Research Center. n/d. Web. Accessed August 19, 2011.

References

External links

NASA Glenn Research Center Drop Tower Competition for Schools
(Archived)
Experiment Design Requirements
{{authority control Glenn Research Center Gravity