The coldness of space

I'm not sure how this works so i came here to ask.

Space is really cold right? So is it hot between the sun and the earth? If not how does the earth get heat? Is it light being trapped in the atmosphere?

My understanding of Science is just about up to 4th grade level.

So here ya go!!

newton.dep.anl.gov...

Sun shines really really brightly tahts what i learnt at skool anyawy summat to do with ultr-violet rays i think.

ah i see it goes to that mind numbing stuff about space being void so what is there to be hot....

Got ya

Space Per Se does not have any temperature.

Space is a vaccuum, and therefore, there is nothing occupying this "space" to have a temperature.

The only way that thermal energy can be transferred in a vaccuum is through radiation or through direct conduction (which requires one object with high thermal energy to physically touch another object, allowing transfer of that thermal energy).

Using radiation, depending on the object being heated or cooled, if it is made of material that will either readily absorb radiant heat or will readily radiate its heat away, will get "hotter" if it is in direct radiation from a heat source and will absorb thermal energy, and will get "colder" if it is in an area that it is not recieving radiant thermal energy and can radiate its thermal energy away.

Ok, anyone else need a drink after that?

Originally posted by dragonrider
Space Per Se does not have any temperature.

Space is a vaccuum, and therefore, there is nothing occupying this "space" to have a temperature.

The only way that thermal energy can be transferred in a vaccuum is through radiation or through direct conduction (which requires one object with high thermal energy to physically touch another object, allowing transfer of that thermal energy).

Using radiation, depending on the object being heated or cooled, if it is made of material that will either readily absorb radiant heat or will readily radiate its heat away, will get "hotter" if it is in direct radiation from a heat source and will absorb thermal energy, and will get "colder" if it is in an area that it is not recieving radiant thermal energy and can radiate its thermal energy away.

Ok, anyone else need a drink after that?

I was just about to go into almost what you said Dragonrider.....well put.

As to the drink, you buying or suppling?!?

regards
seekerof

Space is actually warm, but the Earth is an oven. This is in a literal sense of an oven. The greenhouse gasses, such as CO2 (carbon dioxide) trap heat and over time the heat builds up and the Earth warms. This is directly proportional to how much CO2 there is in the atmosphere... that is why global warming is such a problem.

Outer space is quite a bit cooler, but it is still far above absolute freezing. Outside of the planet and outside of the direct stare of the sun, I believe it is -150 - -200 degrees Fehrenheit. In the direct view of the sun, I think it is 300+ degrees F. This is because there is no regulation and no "oven" to keep the heat trapped in a particular place.

Just for clarification, there is no such thing as "cold" by technical means. There is only such thing as heated or not. Heat is not the absense of cold, heat is the absense of the natural state of what we would call "cold"--this meaning "no activity" which I'll explain. Heat is the biproduct of energy in disorder (an excited state), where coldness is actually the natural state without the friction of the energy being present (orderly state).

When you run around and become active, you warm up. That is the same thing with energy. The more active it gets, the more heat is being produced. The radiating heat is a way for the energy to reduce itself from being so excited in a small volume. Think about a game of ping-pong/table tennis. Playing with one ball is fun, but play with 1,000 balls in going to get painful... there is too much disorder in too small of a space... the balls need to either get smaller or reduce in number. This is why heat is radiated outward from its source.

I'm not 100% sure that what I just told you is completely correct, but I believe at a level 95% that it is. So there you have it, space is not "cold," it is just "not as hot" as the Earth.

[Edited on 29-6-2003 by Protector]