2007-02-23 08:59:52 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Hehe. A well worded question.
3K is the average temperature of the universe. There are points which are somewhat higher in temperature than 3K
The average temp of your house may well be 290K but I bet the flame in the central heating boiler is much hotter.
The core of the sun is 15 Billion K. It's just the nearest sun is a really long way away so theres a lot of cold stuff in between.
Some gases become liquids at 100-200K [oxygen, nitrogen, argon] which means the atmosphere on earth never liquifies. We're only 149million km from a star though and 15bnK is, like, REALLY hot.
In deep space you've only got helium and hydrogen. These are gasses in space because they need pressure to make them become liquid above 3K. That's just the way they are. In the vacuum of space there's nothing to push them into a liquid like on earth so they stay a gas.
2007-02-23 11:36:01 · answer #1 · answered by BIMS Lewis 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a little warmer than 3 degrees kelvin when in proximity to a star for a start so this is where you can find gases in space. The space in between there is plenty of ice and liquids so im not sure how to answer this without sounding a little sarcastic.
2007-02-23 17:05:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You need to look up phase state diagrams. At any given pressure and temperature these show the state (solid/liquid/gas) of a substance. There is always a critical pressure where the line for solid/liquid joins the line for liquid/gas. Below this pressure there is no liquid phase, the substance is either a solid or a gas.
While I hate just including wikipedia entries here it is far easier then trying to explain this in detail myself.
Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_point
In space you are on the bottom left of this graph and as you can see there is no liquid phase.
2007-02-23 19:27:08 · answer #3 · answered by m.paley 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you sure thats right?
3 degrees kelvin is very cold, there wouldn't be any gases on earth because earth is very much above 3 kelvin
2007-02-23 17:03:27 · answer #4 · answered by adklsjfklsdj 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps because the gases occupy a volume which is unrestricted, and the pressure does not pass the critical point where they might change from gas to liquid.
2007-02-23 17:08:28 · answer #5 · answered by cornettofile 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
In space the number of molecules per unit volume (ie pressure)
is so low that a liquid or solid phase cannot exsist.
As pressure is lowered, so is the boiling temperature of a liquid.
The temperature of space is a measure of the average velocity of the molecules ( "thermal" kinetic energy)
2007-02-23 17:18:00 · answer #6 · answered by peter c 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Temperature is a function of molecular activity, not the other way around. It's 3 k BECAUSE there are so few molecules per given volume of space.
2007-02-23 18:57:47 · answer #7 · answered by Lorenzo Steed 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, we're not talking about a baloon or a tank full of gasses under pressure but individual molecules.
Secondly there are some very active stars that keep gasses pretty busy (nebula).
2007-02-23 17:04:54 · answer #8 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's no pressure in space, its a vacuum.
2007-02-23 17:10:09 · answer #9 · answered by Greg 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
haaaaa funny 10/10
2007-02-23 17:02:57 · answer #10 · answered by bad boy for life! 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋