is space really a vacum?

if space is really a vacuum?..
if you make a hole in your spaceship or spacesuit we are told all the air will be sucked out..
so why doesn't the vacuum suck away earths atmosphere and the atmosphere from all other planets...
im thinking space is full of another gas , a space atmosphere ...

feel free to kick and punch my idea.....

Its because the atmosphere is being held onto earth. Also, the air on earth isnt compressed like it is in a space ship. The air isnt being "sucked" out . The Space "air" is coming in, pushing the oxygen out. Or, the oxygen is just escaping. For it to be sucking out, it would have to be suck out to a central point. This central point has to cause the pull of air inside the ship to outside of it. just my opinion. I have never really thought about it before.

-Shadow

Well, I BARELY understand any of that stuff myself, but just think of Interstellar Clouds, but stretched out with less particles per cubic foot, as visibility increases.





If you really want to get tripped out, try and study the composition of the spiral arms of the milky way, and even better, the stars behind the Zone of avoidance

[edit on 28-6-2009 by drsmooth23]

reply to post by ShadowLife

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You are close, it has to do with the pressure equalizing between the 2.

Same principle that causes wind. The wind travels from high pressure areas into lower pressure areas.

So the higher pressure in the ship as you mention goes towards the lower pressure in space, which creates the vacuum.



[edit on 6/28/2009 by badmedia]

It is not a perfect vacuum, like the kind they make in laboratories when they do experiments.

Quite simply, because the atmosphere has mass and gravity holds it down. The further you get from the surface, the thinner the air, until there is none.

That is true. Helping to make it clearer. Think of air molecules as bouncy ping pong balls, bouncing forever off the Earth and bouncing back due to gravity. Some bounce fast, some slow. So only the fastest can reach the highest bounce...

That's almost the way air behave that's why the air is thinner up than down and MAGICALLY don't escape for no reason. Although the Earth's magnetic field is rumored to leak our atmosphere slowly....

But if outer space is empty? No, plenty of diffuse hydrogen and electrons, but it's so thin that pressure is negligible, that's why it's almost as good as vacuum and you still need a space suit. Cheers!

[edit on 28-6-2009 by ahnggk]

I read once that space isn't a true vacuum.

As in, it has properties a true vacuum shouldn't have.

reply to post by fatdad

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Space is in a vacuum, not a vacuum itself. You see, when there is a lot of space, mass plays a roll as a, say, giant bowling laying on top of a giant sheet of rubber--and that's space. And then there's this dude named Issac Newton that calculated how the planets move and such....

thanks for the reply's.. i wonder if the stuff space is made of reacts with the oxygen in the earths atmosphere to make ozone?....

I think in terms of a vacum that its real .. but only has to do with pressure..

like a poster pointed out gravity plays a role on earth but in space we can see gas so what is it in fact being sucked into?

its about pressure

space is very much FULL!! we should know we live inside it


think about water.. what happens when gas is put under megga pounds of pressure?

Same thing for space

reply to post by pluckynoonez

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ok totally off topic here

megan fox is HOT !!

haha sorry

[edit on 29-6-2009 by symmetricAvenger]

reply to post by pluckynoonez

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correct.. space is not moving just the matter inside of it is..

Kinda crack pot but hey it works for me lol

It's a vacuum, just not a perfect vacuum.



All of the air will be pushed out because it is pressurized on the inside in relation to the outside.



It does (although it's not exactly sucking it)

"Science never sucks. It can push and pull, but it never sucks"

Earth loses an average of 2 kilograms of atmospheric gas every second. This may sound like a lot, but at this rate the sun will exhaust all of it's fuel before the earth loses it's atmosphere.

reply to post by trace_the_truth

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well said sir! star for you!

all about pressure well not all but plays a big part! more so with spaceships and so on

Ozone is actually created from sunlight on oxygen molecules in the atmosphere. UV light splits oxygen (o_2) into individual oxygen molecules (0_1), and each free molecule then collide with other (0_2) molecules to form ozone (0_3).

This is similar to ozone depletion from CFCs. Sunlight breaks apart CFCs and frees up the chlorine molecules which are then free to attach to ozone (0_3), which knocks off an oxygen molecule from that, resulting in in one (O_2) oxygen molecule and one molecule of Oxygen and chlorine. When another free oxygen molecule hits this molecule, it results in another (0_2) oxygen molecule and the chlorine molecule is then free to do it all again.

Our atmosphere is very much a dynamic place and the chemicals we release into it just add to the chemical soup up there and modify it in many ways.

reply to post by fatdad

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Well since you asked.

Heres another question that ties into the answers given so far.

Where does the air go, as in where does it stop.

Probably a daft question but a question none the less and I had a crap physics teacher.

reply to post by XXXN3O

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well the thing is it does not in fact Go any were

it just gets transformed from the word AIR ie the mix of the crap we breath in and out.. into just being a partical in the vastness we call space..

its always been here! its just you cant see it..

much like yourself

you was dead be for you was alive.. but the fact you are here proves that something is making LIFE

just got to look at it in a crazy way


most people who think they are sane start wars

that scares me more than anything

just wanted to also say good question gave you a star for furthering the thread in a positive way

[edit on 29-6-2009 by symmetricAvenger]

So the vacuum breaks everything down to its single components, atom.

If this is the case, then why does the earth fail to break down?

It has an atmosphere that contains mass as some of the above have pointed out coupled with the effect of the mass of the other planets in the solar system including the sun we have a functioning solar system held together and in place by each other. Also noted that the earths atmosphere is disappearing but at a rate that will take a large number of years before it really poses any worry.

Assuming thats correct.

Nasa is currently blowing 350 tonnes of rock off the moon in a search for water. This is also one of the theories for solving global warming, ie blow enough off and the earths orbit will shift into a better position.

Wouldnt blowing up part of the moon in this case result in every other planet shifting because of the earths shift along with the moon, ultimately leading to a scenario similar to this?

YouTube Link

Afterwards and im talking seconds here, I dont know exactly how many, there might be something like this if you take this as our universe.

YouTube Link

Resulting in absolutely everything returning to atoms and presto.

Back to the start

YouTube Link

Im off to have a nosebleed now



note - slightly tongue-in-cheek mixed with sarcasm here but serious as well



[edit on 29-6-2009 by XXXN3O]

I have a good question.

How could the astronauts jump up and land again on the Moon if the Moon dont produce a atmosphere?
But in space they float freely.

If the Moon dont produce a atmosphere it would mean the moons surface is the same matter as space it self. But then if a astronaut jumps on the moon he shouldn't be able to land again?

If you go out side and pic up a rock and drop it... i bet it will hit the ground because of the atmosphere between it and the ground.

[edit on 27.06.08 by spy66]