FIRTH@TL-20B.ARPA (12/04/85)
Don Barry is correct. If a film with adequate surface tension is rotated and subjected to a pressure difference, it deforms into a surface that is a paraboloid of revolution. Of course, if the surface tension is inadequate, you get a disgusting blow-out. Alas, I don't think this is going to work in near-Earth orbit: the basic frame of reference is not inertial, being subjected to either a gravity gradient (radial to the planet) or Coriolis forces (tangential to it), and my back-of-the-VDU-screen calculation says that this is enough to cause a significant distortion. Robert Firth -------