A study was made of nucleate boiling bubble dynamics in saturated distilled water for various reduced gravity fields. The nucleation occurred on a very smooth horizontal nickel surface at low heat fluxes. Since because of the smooth surface finish only a few nucleation sites were active, it was possible to photograph individual bubbles that were not interfered with by adjacent bubble columns. Data were taken at seven different gravity fields in the range from 1.4 to 100% of earth gravity by placing the apparatus on a counterwieghted falling platform. Measurements were made of bubble departure diameters and frequencies, growth rates, contact angles, base circle diameters, and rise velocities. Comparisons were made to determine whether the measured gravity dependence of these quantities was in agreement with that predicted by correlations in the literature.
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Siegel et al. (1964) studied this question.