Glacier teachers to fly with NASA

A team of four Glacier High School teachers will fly high in the sky conducting experiments in February.

They will participate in a Microgravity Experience at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Glacier team is one of 17 nationally selected to participate.

The Glacier High School Microgravity Team includes science teachers Todd Morstein, David Hembroff and Tod Robins and math teacher Brad Holloway. Also on the Glacier team is Tonya York, a science teacher from Texas.

Five other Montana educators from Missoula and Cut Bank also were chosen for the NASA program.

The experience is part of NASA’s Teaching from Space Office.

The Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program is a way to provide educational experiences using NASA technology.

Beginning in August, teachers and students proposed reduced gravity experiments to become candidates.

While at Johnson Space Center, the Glacier teachers will board an aircraft to conduct their experiment at zero gravity. To simulate micro- and hyper-gravity, the plane will perform a series of climbs and dips over the Gulf of Mexico.

Morstein is the team leader for Glacier.

His team will conduct electrolysis of water in a NASA glovebox, a sealed clear container with built-in gloves.

This experiment is based on an activity called “A Breath of Fresh Air” that Morstein previously wrote for NASA’s Math and Science Project and taught to his Advanced Placement chemistry students.

“This [activity] simulates what occurs on the International Space Station where everything has to be recycled,” Morstein said. “Water is captured and turned into breathable oxygen for the astronauts.”

Students wanted to take the activity farther — away from gravity. Students in AP chemistry, statistics and physics designed the electrolysis-through-water experiment.

When electricity is run through a solution of water and electrolytes, oxygen molecules will separate on one electrode and hydrogen molecules on the other electrode, Morstein said. On earth, the gas and liquid separate, but in space they do not. They designed an apparatus with the intent to separate the gas from liquid.

“By spinning the electrolysis apparatus we’re able to drive the fluid out and the gas goes to the center,” Morstein said. “We’ll have a collection method at the middle where it spins to capture the gas.”

 Glacier High School teachers will conduct the experiment at 30,000 feet above the ground and in conditions of zero gravity. Morstein is excited and said he hopes no one succumbs to motion sickness during the roller-coaster ride.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-441 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.