Space is an almost complete vacuum, filled with cosmic sounds. And in short, Gravity Is to blame. But to really understand the vacuum of our universe, we have to take some time to understand what a vacuum really is – and what it is not.
So, what is a vacuum, and why is space not a true vacuum?
First, forget the vacuum cleaner as the equivalent of the emptiness of space, Jackie Feherty, a senior scientist in the astrophysics department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, told LiveScience. The home cleaning machine effectively fills itself with dirt and dust pulled from your carpet. (That is, vacuum cleaners use differential pressure to create suction. Suction cleaners may be a better name than vacuum cleaners). But the vacuum of space is the opposite. By definition, a vacuum is free of matter. The space is almost a complete vacuum, not due to sucking but it is almost empty.
Related: What if you run a gun into space?
That emptiness results in very low pressure. And while it is impossible to simulate the empty space of space on Earth, scientists can create an extremely low pressure atmosphere called a partial vacuum.
Despite the vacuum cleaner analogy, “Understanding the concept of a vacuum is almost as foreign as how it contradicts our existence, our experience as human beings is completely limited to a very dense, dense and dynamic part of the universe. So, it is difficult for us to really understand anything or emptiness. , But in reality, this is normal for us Earth, Is really rare in the context of the universe, most of which is almost empty.
Gravity is king
Even if we don’t have gravity, on average, space will still be very empty. “There’s not much material compared to the volume of the universe in which you put that material,” according to Caltech theoretical astrophysicist Cameron Hummels. The average density of the universe, According to NASA, Is 5.9 protons (positively charged) Subtomic particles) Per cubic meter. But then gravity increases the emptiness in certain regions of the universe by accumulating the objects of the universe.
By default, any two collective objects will be attracted to each other. It is gravity. “The other thing is choosing to be around other things,” Fehrty said. In space, gravity pulls objects closer together. Together their mass increases, and more mass means they can produce a stronger gravitational pull with which to draw even more things into their cosmic clamp. Mass increases, then gravity pulls, then mass. “It’s a fugitive effect,” Hummel said.
As these gravitational hot spots pull towards nearby objects, the space between them is emptied, forming a Cosmic void, Hammel said. But the universe did not begin that way. Then The Big Bang, The matter was spread evenly throughout the universe, “almost like fog,” he said. But for billions of years, gravity has accumulated that matter in asteroids, planets, stars, the solar system, and galaxies; And between them interplanetary, interstellar and International space.
But even the vacuum of space is not really pure. Between galaxies, there is Less than one atom In every cubic meter, i.e. interglastic space is not completely empty. However it has much less matter than any vacuum humans can simulate in an Earth laboratory.
In the meantime, “the universe continues to expand,” Fehrty said, adding that the universe will remain largely empty. “It feels so lonely,” he said.
Published on Original Living Science.
