wHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EMPTY SPACE AND NOTHING?

Question

sOMEONE SAID THE FIRST THING WAS EMPTY SPACE BUT IT DID NOT CONCIST OF MATTER. hOW COULD EMPTY SPACE NOT CNTAING SOME ELEMENTS? iT WOULD BE NOTHING AND COULD NOT BE THE FIRST THING.

Answer 1

Empty space has no matter but exists. nothing is a concept.

There is something out there in space i have been studying called dark matter. wow We will never fully grasp any of it. isn't that wonderful. keep asking those questions. !!!

Answer 2

Empty space is a region with no matter or energy in it, but the space itself still exists -- it's available if some energy or matter comes along. Also, there is actually a field energy inherent to any one patch of empty space, independant of anything that might occupy the sapce -- quantum mechanics proves, at least mathematically, that there is enough energy in empty space for virtual particles to pop into existence there. When talking about "nothing," the concept implies that not even empty space is present; an area of nothingness is a location outside of the universe, because it is not an accessible place and cannot contain any matter or energy.

Answer 3

There is a world of difference between "Empty Space" and "Nothing". First, Space is never truly empty. Space is filled with energy and fields, and at the quantum level, there virtual particle pairs being created and destroyed in an ongoing basis. The energy that fills empty space is called "Vacuum Energy". This energy and the same amount of energy fills every point in Space. This was first described by Einstein as a "Cosmological Constant". It is responsible for our Universe's accelerating expansion. The field that is pervasive throughout space is called the Higgs Field. It is what's responsible for giving all matter its "mass". Without it, all particles of matter would be massless.

So "Empty Space" is not so empty. Plus, if you believe in String Theory, there's curled-up higher spatial dimensions at every point in space. In addition, there is the interaction with matter and energy within Space that curves spacetime. So "Empty Space" has geometry or curvature.

Nothing is really nothing. Total and absolute non-existence.

Answer 4

They are different in fact.
Nothing, as many have said, is really
nothing (absence of anything physical).
Empty space (or what we physicists call the vacuum
of space) is not technically empty. There is a sort of
potential energy in empty space that allows quantum
fluctuations such as a particle and it's antiparticle
spontaneously coming out of the vacuum then quickly
(very quickly) annhilating. On a subatomic level, empty
space is very active!

Answer 5

Empty space is something, nothing is nothing. Think of it this way: you get an empty space when something leaves that space. In the case of nothing, there was nothing in the first place.

Answer 6

Space is never actually empty as in a complete void/vacuum. We cannot prevent the spontaneous appearance of virtual particles. Particles which pop into existance for a fraction of a second only to be neutralized by their anti-part.

Nothing is a concept of a complete lack of something.

Answer 7

This has been my argument. Space without any matter equals nothing. If everyone could understand that then the universe could be easier to interpret.

The universe is the part of space that is littered with matter. Beyond that is nothing or un-littered space.

Answer 8

Empty space exists, and nothing doesn't.

Answer 9

A bee's diaphragm of difference.

Answer 10

Nothing. They are the same.