Are we in space?

Question

OK so for the last couple of months I have been having this debate with my hubby about where you actually are we you are in the air on an aeroplane. My dear hubby seems to have it in his head that as soon as you leave earth (as in leave the ground) you are in space! My point was that when you are on an aeroplane although you are leaving the ground of earth you are still in planet earth just not on the ground otherwise you would be in space and we all know there is no gravity in space!! Im trying to explain to him his point is wrong but I cant do that without facts!! Please help me try and tell him he is WRONG because he is driving me mad!! Hope this makes sense!!

Believe me bardstale, my husband has spent many nights on the sofa over this one!!

Answer 1

Looks like you have a couple of people with Physics degrees to give you the correct answer - and prove that you are right. My question though is - How does your husband get away with thinking he's right about anything?! I'd put him through the ringer for this one!

Answer 2

Like everyone else has been saying, the earth's atmosphere starts to become less organized and more chaotic at the Karman line roughly 100 km above sea level, so this is the generally accepted place where space begins, though there is not a definitive LINE as an atmosphere is gasious and just sorta dissapates and gradually becomes less dense after that point.

If you think about it, the gas that makes up earth's atmophere defines the planet as the solid ground, making your husband's arguement null. After all, you HAVE to say that the gassy atmosphere (which is under that influence of earth's gravity) is part of the planet, and not part of space. If this were so, by your husband's arguement the giant gas planets, like Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune, which are made up of COMPLETELY gas would be just part of space and not planets at all. Is the sun part of space as well? Again, solid ground does not define where a planet starts and stops, or else is all the water of the oceans in space as well? The end of the planet and beginning of space is certainly PAST the planet's atmospere.

To put it into perspective, 100 km is 328,083 feet (~62 miles). The FAA regulations for maximum cruising altitude for a commercail airliner vary for each plane model, but they range from 30,000 feet to 52,000 feet.

Blackbird spy planes have the highest sustainable max cruising altitude of all US military aircraft at 70,000 feet.

SO, when you are on a large commercial airliner at its max cruising altitude, you are probably only about 10-15% of the way from the earth to space!!

Answer 3

There is gravity in space. All objects with mass exert a gravitational pull. The reason why astronauts are weightless is because they are orbiting earth and "falling" toward earth but only at a rate which is equal to the curvature of earth so they never hit the ground. For the shuttle to reenter the atmosphere, they simply slow down their orbit so that they start to fall to earth. There must be gravity in space. The earths gravity is what keeps the moon from flying off into space. Same as the suns gravity keeps earth and the other 8 planets from flying off into space.

Answer 4

You are still within the Earth's atmosphere when you leave the ground and fly in an airplane. However, gravity does not stop working in space. Gravity is the attractive force between two masses. In space the effects of the Earth's gravity are less, but gravity still exists. This is why satellites fall out of orbit sometimes.

Answer 5

When you are in a plane, you are FAR from being in "Outer Space." While there is no true line, it is generally accepted that the Karman_line demarks the point of "outer space".

"Karman calculated that above an altitude of roughly 100 km (~62 miles), a vehicle would have to fly faster than orbital velocity in order to derive sufficient aerodynamic lift from the atmosphere to support itself. Though the calculated altitude was not exactly 100 km, Karman proposed that 100 km be designated the boundary to space as the round number is more memorable and the calculated altitude varies minutely as certain parameters are varied. An international committee recommended the 100 km line to the FAI, and upon adoption it became the internationally accepted boundary to space."

Oh, and gravity does exist in outer space. Gravity is what keeps the moon in orbit around earth, the earth in orbit around the sun, etc.

Answer 6

Space and gravity have nothing to do with each other so let us get that one out of the way right away.

When you fly in an airplane you cannot be in space as space is defined as the vacuum between space bodies (eg planets). There would be no air to power the engines and no air to fly over the wings to provide the lift to fly..... you are dead !

Hubby is wrong, sorry to say ! (Is his name Homer Simpson?)

Answer 7

Space refers collectively to the relatively empty parts of the universe. Any area outside the atmospheres of any celestial body can be considered 'space'. Although space is certainly spacious, it is not always empty, but can be filled with matter — say a tenuous plasma. In particular, the boundary between space and Earth's atmosphere is conventionally set at the Karman line.

Answer 8

Outer space is defined as being 100km above sea level. You are not in "space" in an airplane.

By the way, there is gravity in space. However, when you are in orbit, you and your spacecraft and anything else in it are all falling at the same rate so it seems as if there is no gravity.

Answer 9

I think he is. A long along as the aeroplane is still running you won't fall. If falling is the worry, then you're still on earth

Answer 10

This can be argued both ways. In an airplane you aren't in outerspace.

However, Earth itself is in fact in space. I think this is where he's coming from. You cann tell him that he's wrong, by statting "you don't have to get inside an airplane to be in space--you're already there."

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