An Adventure

Preface

0  Introduction Why do we fly into the space?

1  Free fall and weightlessness in gravity

    1-1  The story of Isaac Newton and the apple falling

    1-2  Why does a cannonball fall down to earth but the moon does not?

    1-3  Why do scientists launch spacecrafts from the equator?

    1-4  Weight and weightlessness

    1-5  The wonderful world of microgravity

2        Measure the body weight on space station

    2-1  Measure the weight on the ground

     2-2  Measure the "weight" or mass of astronaut on space station

     2-3  Why do we confuse weight and mass?

     2-4  Mass and weight from north pole to equator

  2-5  How is Earth's mass measured?

     2-6  Short summary on mass and weight

3        The space swing never stops

    3-1  Constructing a simple pendulum

 3-2  A pendulum anchored in the cosmos

    3-3  The mystery of swinging

    3-4  Keeping time with a pendulum

    3-5  Simple pendulum motion in gymnastics

    3-6  A pendulum in weightlessness state

4        The Gyroscope on space station

4-1  Stability of a spinning gyroscope

Chengmin Zhang received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Hong Kong (China). He then conducted postdoctoral research at IFT-UNESP (Brazil), School of Physics at the University of Sydney (Australia). He also served as a visiting scientist at several international institutions, e.g., Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Germany), Albert Einstein Institute (Germany), Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (Germany), Mathematical Sciences Institute at Australian National University (Australia).  Dr. Zhang is now a research professor at National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and teaching professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). He is a member of International Astronomical Union and a senior scientist on astrophysics and space science. In addition, Dr. Zhang is a former live guest commentator for the first broadcast of the Chinese Astronauts Space Class (Tiangong) on China Central Television, which has become the most watched space education program in the world, with more than 200 million viewers worldwide, including 60 million secondary school students.