Gravity's effects on chemical reactions

Kyle Bosanko posed a GREAT question on my article last week about mapping out g on the moon. (My only regret is that I didn't get around to reading it until today! Sorry!) Here's Kyle's question:

I just finished up some chemistry homework and was wondering how much gravity [a]ffects chemical reactions. Would a reaction differ it were on the moon. I am particularly interested in reaction rates.

I'm not as familiar with gravity's impact on chemical reactions (though I suspect it's minimal), but I DO have a neat simulation to show you about a similar problem!

Click to Run

This simulation (Just click it to run!) shows the behavior of an ideal gas, which is where gas particles roam freely until they bump into each other or the walls of the container. There's a slider that will allow you to adjust the strength of "gravity" (really, our g) to see what effects different levels of gravity have on the gas's behavior!

Enjoy!