Are firey explosions possible in space with the lack of oxygen?

Answer 1

yes, the sun is a good example

Answer 2

The sun is not an explosion... it is super-heated gas, the heat coming from fission due to large pressures. Solar flares are not explosions, they are magnetic fluxes causing gas to burst out of the sun in response.

But yes, an explosion is possible, this is possible in two ways.

1. Both oxygen and the flamable substance is produced byt the exploding device.
(an example being in a rocket where hydrogen and oxygen are mixed to produce an explosion the propells the rocket around earth)

2. Many explosions do not require oxygen, many chemicals will decompose, produce heat and gases and a subsequential explosion.

(An explosion is defined by the rapid expansion of gases, often involving large amounts of heat... since the sun is not rapidly expanding it is not technically an explosion)

Answer 3

Space is a better vaccum than is artificially achievable on Earth. And magnesium certainly needs oxygen to burn.

So the only chemical explosions you could get in space are those where the explding material provides its own source of oxygen. This is true of all high explosive, including gun powder. So all of them would still work in space.

Answer 4

well it depends what you mean when you say fire. Traditionally fire is rapid oxidation. This obviosly requires oxygen. The previous answer was absolutely incorrect with the statement that magnesium does not require oxygen. It only appears that it doesn't because it will burn under water. It is actually disassociating the oxygen from the hydrogen in the water and using that oxygen for it's own burn.

Yes, there is oxygen in space but in such an infitismal density that burn is completely improbably.

Answer 5

What we call fire is really plasma in all its forms, plasma is the most common state of normal matter in the universe, with Hydrogen and Helium being the most common elements in plasma, so Fiery Explosions without oxygen are more common then those where oxygen plays a part.

Answer 6

Well, you could consider stars as firey explosions, even though their "fire" has nothing to do with what we traditionally consider fire. If you use the definition of rapid oxidation, then of course not, since you need oxygen by definition.

Answer 7

I think that since the space is a complete vaccum there are no chances of combustion. But if you are thinking that why sun is burning? Then I would say that sun has it's own atmosphere from where it gets the o2 for the combustion of helium and hydrogen.

Answer 8

fission and fusion need no oxygen, plus some chemical reactions donnt need oxygen, so explosions are very much possible in space and under water

Answer 9

Yes, Magnesium will burn brightly with or without O2. And in space there is always some Ox floating around, Space is never a total vacuum.

Answer 10

No, the results of a fire are from the contact between oxygen, heat, and a source. Fire in space is real, you can have fire in space, but it is controlled, but once in space the fire will fizzle out.

Answer 11

theres the solar flares and they are nuclear furnace fires so im not sure about fires but the hydrogen and helium are burning there