Matiqua,
In case you didn’t get a chance to read Methos5000’s excellent answer to why the flag appears to be waiving before the thread was accidentally lost, here’s a quick overview:
They knew the flag would just lay limp off a flagpole on the Moon (since there is no wind.) That wouldn’t look very photogenic! So they put in a thin, flexible support inside the flag at the top. So basically the flag-pole looked like a large number 7, with the top of the flag hanging off the top “bar” of the 7 and connected (via a ring) down the vertical side of the “7” (the actual flag pole itself.) Once the flag was set up by the astronaut, the hanging part would ripple (from being unfurled down the flagpole) until the kinetic energy eventually dampened out. But once that pole was touched, the energy from the motion provided by the astronaut’s hand will travel through the pole and to the flag, causing it to move. This will happen even in a vacuum.
Click the link below to see a picture of the entire Moon flag set-up (as it was stored on the LEM.)
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/mars/reference/flag/eic045-5.gifClick the linke below for a very long (and very boring
) site on the entire engineering aspects of JUST how to take the flag to the Moon and set it up!
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/mars/reference/flag/flag.htmlClick Here for an excellent book on all sorts of space stuff, with an entire chapter covering nearly all the stuff you asked about. Check your local library to see if they have it so you won’t have to purchase it. But if you are interested in space and astronomy (or expect future projects with space themes), you might want to buy it for yourself. Sometimes reading stuff in a book form is easier than reading things on a web page! Plus it couldn’t hurt your report/project to have a book in your bibliography instead of just all websites! While an astronomer wrote it, it is an easy read for people with little or no science background. Plus it’s a fun read. Good luck with the report/project! Shoot for the Moon!
