Editing Combustion (section)

===Micro-gravity===
[[Image:Microgravity Burning.jpg|thumb|Colourized gray-scale composite image of the individual frames from a video of a backlit fuel droplet burning in microgravity]]

The term 'micro' gravity refers to a gravitational state that is 'low' (i.e., 'micro' in the sense of 'small' and not necessarily a millionth of Earth's normal gravity) such that the influence of [[buoyancy]] on physical processes may be considered small relative to other flow processes that would be present at normal gravity. In such an environment, the thermal and [[flow transport dynamics]] can behave quite differently than in normal gravity conditions (e.g., a [[candle]]'s flame takes the shape of a sphere.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20011118103426/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/science/mg/nm21460011.htm Shuttle-Mir History/Science/Microgravity/Candle Flame in Microgravity (CFM) – MGBX].  Spaceflight.nasa.gov (1999-07-16). Retrieved on 2010-09-28.</ref>). Microgravity combustion research contributes to the understanding of a wide variety of aspects that are relevant to both the environment of a spacecraft (e.g., fire dynamics relevant to crew safety on the [[International Space Station]]) and terrestrial (Earth-based) conditions (e.g., droplet combustion dynamics to assist developing new fuel blends for improved combustion, [[materials fabrication processes]], [[Thermal management (electronics)|thermal management of electronic systems]], multiphase flow boiling dynamics, and many others).