the sun is in space and gives us light then why is it dark in space?

Answer 1

We seee sky as white or blue because of acsttered light by atmospheric particles.

Now in space there are no particles thats why it seems to be black eventhough it is full of light

Answer 2

Think of light as being like a stream of small particles the size of a piece of rice. Now we build a detector that "sees" them when they enter through the front. The detector is like the eye which only "sees" light that enters through the pupil.

Now we put our detector up in space. The space is packed with these little particles zooming by. They leave the sun and move outwards. But, our detector "eye" is not pointed at the sun at the moment, so none of them enter it and are detected. So even though the detector "eye" is surrounded by these little particles, it can't "see" any of them.

Of course, if we hold up a 4x8 sheet of plywood (NASA is footing the bill here, so we can put up anything we want), the little rice-sized particles will hit the surface and be reflected off into all directions. If our detector eye is pointed at (looking at) the board, it will now see light coming from that direction.

In the same way, if we were in space, even though we are surrounded by light, we would not see it unless we turned and looked at the sun, the piece of plywood, or something else reflecting light (like the earth or moon).

Now if we float a marbles around our original detector, they will scatter the rice-sized particles all around. Then no matter which way our detector eye looks, it will see the light bouncing back. The light has been scattered all around.

The earth's atmosphere works in this way. Of all of the visible colors, blue is the easiest to scatter, so the atmosphere scatters the blue light all around so it is coming at our eyes from all directions of the sky. So the sky looks blue.

However as we saw, up in space it is not being scattered so again, even though our detector is surrounded by rice-sized light particles, our detector won't see them because they don't enter the front of the detector.

If you are interested in astronomy, try
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/
You will find a large number of amateur astronomers who are glad to answer questions and talk about what they are observing. We also have an outstanding group of photographers who enjoy helping others take pictures of the moon.

Chuck

Answer 3

Good question. it is cold in space because there is nothing to trap the radiation from the sun or other stars that and space is HUGE. Think of it like this: You have a 500 gallon aquarium but are only using a heater suited to 10 gallons.

Answer 4

Space is mostly vacuum, so there's nothing to reflect the Sun's light back into our eyes, apart from the Moon and some planets.

Answer 5

Space is full of particles, from gases to planets to asteroids, we only see these because light is reflected off them. On earth our atmosphere is densely packed with particles, there for reflecting more light.. In the vacuum of space every thing is not packed as tightly. Basically if light is does not touch a particle of some kind, we can't see it..

Answer 6

We can see an object only if it reflects light. Sinc e the space is devoid of any matter no light is reflected. It would be tyravelling as long as it meets an object. Thus space is dark.

Answer 7

There is more light in space then there is on Earth. The molecules in our atmosphere scatter light giving the sky a blue ting but If there was no atmosphere, no scatter and so, blackness. It's called light pollution!

Answer 8

It is not dark in space it is only a perception from earth that you see darkness, You see light from reflected surfaces, and in space there are no surfaces to reflect, but that does not mean there isn't any light

Answer 9

if its dark in space why is it i can see the sun,the moon, all them other planets and the rest of the stars? i know i eat lots of carrots

Answer 10

Try a Google search for "Olbers Paradox"