What would it be like to fry in microgravity ? discombobulate Solanum tuberosum into boiling vegetable oil while swim around in space sounds like a formula for topsy-turvyness and third degree burns . Scientists are not interested in that , luckily , but in how cooking with crude oil might involve gravity to be effective . And it plow out that this is not the slip .
Frying is a toothsome ( albeit unhealthy ) manner to cook food . human being have been doing it globally for 100 . The hot oil or fatty tissue transfers heat much faster , which is often ensure as a preferable outcome , and it leaves a crispy gall and a moist interior . So , it ’s a win for both gustatory modality and convenience .
But if we look in item , specially when something isdeep fried , there is a lot more than oil , heat , and food for thought going on . Here on Earth , in the case of fried Solanum tuberosum , ripple manakin on the surface and transmigrate upwardly due to irrepressibility .
But it is not obvious that this would be the pillowcase in space . Without the pull of gravitational force , bubbles do n’t spring up , so a steam barrier might form around the potato , kibosh the oil from frying the spud . This new enquiry was necessary to show whether this kitchen nightmare scenario could bump .
“ postulate any chef and they will affirm that the physics and chemistry behind food is a complex and captivating national that bubbles over to other science disciplines , ” Professor Thodoris Karapantsios from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki , a member of the research team behind the study , said in astatement .
To test this in safety , a special automated pullet was created . It had in high spirits - speed cameras to get across the bubble and it was automatise so that it could be operate safely . Two experimental rivulet were conducted on a European Space Agency ( ESA ) parabolic flight , where lightness is created by a peculiar flight of stairs normal in a plane .
The experiment measured the temperature of the oil , of the white potato , and how the bubbles moved . The very skilful news is that in microgravity , the bubbles still easy detach from the surface of the potatoes . So yes , astronauts on foresighted - continuance missions ( maybe toMars ) can have fries with that . And that is not all .
“ Apart from nutrition and comfort , studying the process of frying in space could also contribute to furtherance in various fields , from traditional boiling to producing H from solar free energy in microgravity , ” concludes lead generator John Lioumbas .
The sketch is published in the journalFood Research International .
