Why is Space a Vacuum

[Suicide Junkie]

The densest nebulae have about 10,000 molecules per cm^3.
The air we breathe has 10^19.

If they get too dense or cool, then they'll collapse into star clusters.

[Paul1980au]

Fully understand the vacuum is because there is a lack of any heavier elements hydrogen and helium making up 99.999% of the volume of interstellar space.

[Fyron]

Umm... invert that number and then divide some really huge exponentials into it and you have a more accurate number on the volume of space taken up by hydrogen and helium. Now, the vast majority of matter is made of those 2 elements, but the vast majority of space is empty.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

When molecules move and collide with something, they exert force on it, transfering some kinetic energy. This is what pressure is, a measure of the average force that the matter is exerting upon a surface, an object, a probe, etc.

ah, that explains it. so, if you froze something to near 0 kelvin, you could compact it alot?

[Phoenix-D]

Originally posted by Paul1980au:
Fully understand the vacuum is because there is a lack of any heavier elements hydrogen and helium making up 99.999% of the volume of interstellar space.

Fyron is correct..if this was true, letting oxygen out into space and then lighting a match would result in an explosion. It doesn't.

Hydrogen and helium make up the majority of elements because they are the simplest and take the least mass. For every, oh, carbon atom you could have TWELVE hydrogen atoms. For the metals and heavy radioactive elements, it gets even worse.

EDIT: and yes, things near 0K can be more compact. Note the can. Because as you compact them you decrease the volume and increase the pressure. The result of -that- is an increase in heat.

[ January 28, 2004, 05:13: Message edited by: Phoenix-D ]

[Fyron]

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
ah, that explains it. so, if you froze something to near 0 kelvin, you could compact it alot?

Yes, because the molecules would not hardly be moving at all. And what P-D said. The increase in heat from compacting stuff comes from the increase in the kinetic energy transfered per unit area/volume, hence increased pressure. Same amount of energy, just in a smaller area/volume. But then the increased heat causes the molecules to move faster, so they get away from each other and decrease the volume again, unless you keep them trapped. Keep in mind that temperature is a measure of the average root mean square velocity of the molecules in a given volume, which is a direct result of their average kinetic energy.

[ January 28, 2004, 05:22: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Atrocities]

Ok the reason I brought this up was A) I honestly did not understand the nature of space as a vacuum, that being explained now, and thank you all, I move on to my other thought.

Nebula's are basically gasses being held in place by a gravitational force or other. These nebula can be pretty much any gas combination. So to turn this toward an SEIV topic, would it be possible to make a component that could use the inherent gasses of a nebula and convert them into energy for a ship or say stationary Starbase where a Q-reactor was not present?

The idea I have in mind is to make nebula system even more of a strategic asset then they currently are.

If you could mine a nebula for resources and use those resources for production or supply generation depending upon the component used, then nebula systems become far more useful in a game. You would want to protect them from nebula busters or other.

That being said, why not consider the possibility of mining the entrance to a black hole. We all know that matter is pulled into a black hole and super compacted to extremely dense material, so why can we not mine that material? Of course this would require a means to remain neutrally buoyant against the gravitational event horizon of a gravity well, and components to mine for resources at an accelerated rate. The cost would be high, but the pay off would be well worth it.

Also, as a twist to the normal use of a nebula, have breathable ones where you could establish colonies similar to ring worlds, but more along the lines of platforms or rafts that a colony can be built upon. So long as the nebula was breathable gas, IE hydrogen, oxygen, etc it could support a limited number of these colonies.

What about randomly forming nebula? Basically from what I recall from the discovery channel, a nebula is could be formed when a star explodes and the gasses within it are released. There is still enough density from the Stars core to keep the ever expanding gasses held together via gravity, thus creating a nebula. Kind of like a big bag of sun gasses held together and prevented from dissipating by what was left of the stars core and its gravity. So a nebula is formed, why can it not be used as a source for material or a home for a race that can live off of the gasses contained within?

These were just some thoughts I had about trying to make nebula a more useful part of the game.

Edit: Spelling error, thanks Narf for pointing it out. I owe you one.

[ January 28, 2004, 07:06: Message edited by: Atrocities ]