What is nothing?

Question

I always thought that "nothing" was simply the space outside of earth.. how there is no air/mass or anything there... but my friend told me there is a different between "space" and "nothing".. so outside of earth there is something: space.

So I just can't understand the concept of nothing. I mean, could you go into nothing? Or throw something into it? Or see it? See through it? What is it? It's so hard to understand.

Answer 1

No, the Old Ideas of "Outer Space" was an Empty Zone between Planets and Stars. The usual term is "Void", but even that is Falling into Disuse, due to new Revelations about that area.

We now Know that that area is Full of Matter, but of a Low Density-a few Particles per square meter, as opposed to a Large Mass of Rock or Gas. Solar Winds eject a Lot of Particles every second, and there is a Lot of Dust, even in Empty Space. There does not seem to be Anywhere that there is NOTHING, just Very little in this Spot.
Basically, you can understand if You and your Friend are standing in the Schoolyard, you are 2 Separate Masses of Matter. There is an Area Between you, where there is "Nothing"-but you Know there is Air there, which you can't see, but can Easily move through. If there was Smoke or Rain(in other words, Denser material), you could See it, but still move through it. That is the "Space" between the Planets and Stars too, but more so-Bigger Masses, Longer Distances, and Less Matter than Air.

Sometimes terms are Confusing, that is why Scientists Change them. If you don't Understand a Term-Ask.....But you Already KNOW That!....:-)

Answer 2

Nothing (the real nothing) is a math concept. It is the absence of everything.

It is not even zero (because zero is an element, it represents a value, so it is not nothing).

Space is the same way: it may be devoid of matter (and, even then, most of the time it is not) but it still has energy and a temperature. If has lines of magnetic flux, photons crossing it...

I know this will sound lame, but, in our universe, there really is nothing that is really "nothing".

However, in popular language, the word can be use in a relative meaning: it expresses the lack of something that you expected to have.

I entered the casino with 5 dollars, I expected to leave with a million dollars. Instead, I left with nothing.

In this context, "nothing" only refers to the money. You still left with your life and, maybe, the clothes on your back. So you did not really have nothing.

The space outside Earth (especially if you stay within a few million kilometres or miles) has lots of stuff (fun stuff? -- maybe not). For example, there is a stream of charged particles (mostly atoms that have lost many electrons) that are moving rapidly away from the Sun -- the Sun evaporates. Some of these are trapped by our magnetic field.
Plus, there are all the molecules from our atmosphere that reach escape velocity (being heated by the sun) and are now in "space".

All the dust from comets and meteroids that pass by (even if they don't hit us); more dust from asteroids bumping into each other;even more dust raised from the Moon's surface when a meteoroid hits.

Space may be a better "vacuum" than what we can achieve on Earth in our labs, that vacuum still contains a lot of stuff.

Answer 3

The concept of nothing is very hard for humans to understand, because we have no reference.
Outside of the Earth is space, and while its a lot of nothing to our senses, its still got some matter in it (estimates are about an atom of hydrogen per cubic centimeter in the space between galaxies, more in the space between stars).
That may not be much, but a whole lot of that adds up to something.
In the gas and dust clouds of the spiral arms in the Milky Way, there is a lot more than that (in fact, if the air on Earth were as full of dust as some of the dust clouds in space, we'd only be able to see a few centimeters).

So there really isn't "nothing" out in space, there is always something (just not much in some places, a whole lot in others).

Answer 4

Total 'nothing' would be an absolute vacuum which has not a single bit of substance in it, including subatomic particles. Our science has never been able to make an absolute vacuum, and as far as we know there is no such thing. Even in the emptiest regions of outer space there are still a few molecules drifting about. Strictly speaking, an absolute vacuum would also be completely without any energy whatsoever since Einstein's relativity has shown that energy and mass are simply different forms of the same thing.

Answer 5

Hi. Nice question. Thanks!

The concept of 'nothing' depends on what you want to express. If you are trying to express yourself in a scientific way, then there is no place with 'nothing' in it.

Every place in the Universe is filled with gravity, time, light and electromagnetic energy, plus an atom or ion or more. So no place is full of 'nothing.'

But we are also human beings and we relate to the world or the Universe from our own point of view. From our point of view - mainly on Earth - it is ok to say 'there is nothing in that desert, and people can't live there.' Yet there are a million insects, lizards, scorpions etc. etc. living there who can be happy with all that empty sand and hot air.

We can also say 'Space is empty. There is nothing there, and people would quickly die there.' Which is perfectly understandable, right?

We can also say, 'Even though I love her, her heart is cold. There is nothing there for me. I am heartbroken.' This also is perfectly understandable even though we know - scientifically - that a heart is full of blood at a temperature of about 100 degrees.

;-D So use 'nothing' any way you want to, and don't worry about the exact scientific truth of it.

Answer 6

This is a very good question and all though this is a theory of mine, well that my teacher told me, he said that well, space has to end somewhere and when it does outside of that is nothing. And although it is probably highly unlikely, we can even call it impossible, if we could get to the edge of the universe and stick our arm out for example, of the space ship, and stuck it out to nothing it would dissapear and you would never have known you had an arm. All pictures of you with your arm would be erased and you would have no memory of it. Scary huh? Well, I don't know if it's true, obviously a theory, not even, but yeah that's nothing "baically".

Answer 7

In outer space there are small particles everywhere with small amounts of gravitational pull between themselfs. However if you go between the small particles in space you have a empty space or (void) where there is no matter. Yes matter can pass into the void and pass out of it or stay in it. A void or null area is very smallas light waves and sound waves tend to pass in most all parts of space.

Answer 8

Thats a pretty good question, and my answer would be, nothing is a volume of somewhere where matter doesnt exist. Absolutely no particles or anything, just a blank area. It's kinda tough to imagine because 0 is still a value.

Answer 9

There are two types of nothing.
There is the nothing before an incident and the nothing after an incident.
The nothing before an incident had the potential to create that incident.
An incident has a duration,so it must end.
The nothing after an incident is a state of eternal nothing,with no potential to initiate another incident.

Answer 10

Space is other planets, stars, comets, meteors, cosmic dust, solar radiation.

Nothing is the absence of all. Space is full of stuff. In terms of the universe, there is no "nothing".