MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

We have nothing to say about vacuums. Vacuums are nothing. Vacuums are a lack of anything. Vacuums are cold, empty spaces that make up just about all of the space in the universe. Think about it. Imagine how far the Earth is from the Sun. Millions of miles separate the two relatively small objects. Everything between the Earth and Sun is a vacuum. Don't get us wrong, there is stuff there, just stuff that is hard to quantify or detect. Light passes through the vacuum of space. You've got radio waves, gamma rays, X-ray, IR, UV, visible, etc. There is even stuff called dark matter and dark energy. They are all there. But if you could hold your hand out, there would be nothing.

CRUSHING AND POPPING

If you are a deep sea diver and you go to the bottom of the ocean, the pressure would be incredible. The pressure is enough to crush submarines. If you jumped out of the sub, your whole body would be squished under the enormous pressure of the deep water. Space is exactly the opposite.

Since there are no molecules in the vacuum of space there are neither atmosphere nor pressure. When there is no atmosphere, all of the molecules in the area want to spread out as much as possible. If you were on a space ship and stepped outside, you would not be crushed. Instead, you would blow up like a huge balloon as your molecules began to spread out. Eventually you would pop. Very messy.

RELATED LINKS

- Chem4Kids: Matter
- Chem4Kids: Astrochemistry
- Chem4Kids: Atoms
- Geography4Kids: Solar Radiation
- Biology4Kids: Scientific Method
- Physics4Kids: Magnetic Fields
- Physics4Kids: Light
- Physics4Kids: Gravity

- NASA: Home Page
- NASA: Kids Home Page
- ESA: Home Page
- ESA: Kids Home Page

-	Introduction
-	Origins
-	Gravity
>	Vacuum of Space
-	EM Radiation
	MORE ASTRONOMY TOPICS

** Andrew Rader Studios does not monitor or review the content available at these web sites. They are paid advertisements and neither partners nor recommeded web sites.