what happens to water in space?

Answer 1

In the absence of atmospheric pressure (i.e. space) it turns into a vapor cloud. If you get enough of it together (i.e. enough to make a moon) then it would condense back and probably freeze into a solid.

And yes there is water, and anything else you can imagine floating around somewhere in space. We've deposited quite a bit of water from hydrogen powered spacecraft actually.

Answer 2

Experimenters burst water balloons in the low-gravity environment produced aboard a NASA DC-9 aircraft. There are three videos available in QuickTime or MPEG.

From the site: The tests were conducted in part to develop the ability to rapidly deploy large liquid drops by rupturing an enclosing membrane. As can be seen from the experiment footage, the initial rupture process is nearly ideal, but the finite size of the balloon material eventually ejects a spray from the drop surface.

Then, when the balloon material leaves the drop entirely, it causes a large deformation of the drop (blob), which oscillates throughout the remainder of the test. Calculations suggest that such oscillations will continue for hours before the drop eventually becomes spherical.

Answer 3

If you mean onboard a spacecraft, yes it tends to bead into droplets and float around.

But if you mean as it exists in open space, different things take place. Liquid water does not exist because the pressure is so low. (The lower the pressure, the lower the boiling point.) It either exists as a vapor or as ice clouds. In fact, the boiling point of water is usually so low, if you release liquid water into space, it will boil and freeze at the same time, turning into a frozen mist!

Within the solar system, it also forms a principle ingredient of comets, possibly evaporating as the comet gets near the sun. This, along with other gases and dust, is believed to be the basis of the comet's "tail."

(And this was not a "dumb dumb" question.)

Answer 4

comets and planets and moons all have water. I would think as water escapes in to open space - several things will happen
1) The water will be attracted and land on another heavenly body
2) Some energy force can break up the molecule into the Hydrogen and Oxygen components and you will have some more floating gas molecules.
3) Globes of water will beak up and the molecules of water will just be independent molecules of water floating in space

Realize that space is cold so the water will be in its solid form of ice.

Answer 5

in side a ship it forms drops like others have said however in a vacuum i.e actually in space and not contained in a craft the water will evaporate.

Temperature is a number that is related to the average kinetic energy of the molecules of a substance.

Heat is a measurement of the total energy in a substance. That total energy is made up of not only of the kinetic energies of the molecules of the substance, but total energy is also made up of the potential energies of the molecules.

To say space is cold is in someways inaccurate, Space itself has no temperature! You need to have something there to be hot, and space is technically a vacuum.

objects get cold in space because they radiate their heat away

Answer 6

Hello,

(ANS) H2o, water in a zero gravity environment in a vacuum just floats around as small globules. As space tends to be on the cold side water often turns into ice crystals. (unless warmed by close proximity to the sun).

Ivan

Answer 7

If it is far from the Sun, it freezes. If it is close to the Sun, it sublimates, which means it changes from ice to steam without every being liquid. The tail of a comet contains water vapor that sublimates from ice on the head of the comet when it gets close to the Sun.

Answer 8

Its weight (mass x gravity) goes way down because of the dramatically decreased gravitational force being exerted on it but its physical properties remain the same (it is still a Newtonian fluid). However it does boil slightly differently, check this NASA movie out! I guess that this would be true for all Newtonian fluids, not just water.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast07sep_2.htm

Answer 9

What happens is it freezes.
In deep space, the temperature is VERY low. Known as deep space freeze.

Answer 10

There's already lots of water in space, mostly in the form of ice and gas. In liquid form it will adhere to a cirular shape, but only on a space station....water in liquid form does not exist by itself in outerspace due to temperature and pressure conditions.


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