What is a misconception students have about space?

Answer 1

The biggest misconception people have about space is there is no gravity in space. This isn't true. Otherwise, the spacecraft that astronauts are riding in would not orbit the Earth - they fly off in a straight line and never return.

Both the spacecraft and the astronaut are being pulled by gravity. The illusion of no gravity ('weightlessness') is caused by the fact that both the spacecraft and the astronaut are orbiting the Earth at the same rate. In essence, it's as if the spacecraft and astronaut were both falling at the same rate - instead of being pulled 'through' the floor by gravity, the floor is also falling.

Answer 2

Most people have no idea how big and empty it is. They think of the asteroid belt it as a swarm of rocks that have to be dodged as you fly through. But even though there are many thousands or millions of asteroids, you could fly right through the belt without ever seeing a single asteroid because they are so far apart. If you set up a scale model of the solar system where the Sun is the size of a basketball, then Earth is a 1/10 inch pinhead about 90 feet away and Pluto is a much smaller pinhead 2/3 of a mile away! And the nearest star is another basketball 4,580 miles away! All the rest is empty space. Space is so big and so empty and most people just have no idea!

Answer 3

That space is a vacuum and that there's nothing there except these little dots called planets and and stars and asteroids and small debris of space shuttle and alien machines and the occasional poop of the astronauts which lie floating in the space along with the cow who jumped over the moon.

There is a theory that space is made up of dark matter. There is no known evidence of this, but assuming that it is answers tons of unsolved questions, puzzles and paradoxes so we might as well believe so.

Answer 4

I think the hardest way to stop thinking of space is as a flat, two-dimensional cosmic highway. It's hard for students to understand that the universe is not restricted by our Earthly laws (gravity, friction, etc) and in space it's not just left to right. It's up, down, and all around. Hard to explain without sketches, but you get the idea.

Answer 5

People think there's no gravity in space, or that air friction causes the flames seen during atmospheric entry, or that human bodies exposed to a vacuum blow up and burst like balloons.

Answer 6

That when the fancy looking space rocket in space blows up in makes a big boom sound. Vacuum people no sound waves.

Answer 7

That seasons on the Earth are caused by the Earth getting closer or farther away from the Sun.

Answer 8

That you can get more into that closet space than can honestly get shoved in there.