Science books tell us that the temprature of outerspace is something like 4 degrees Kelvin. How does one arrive at that conclusion? What is the temprature being measured from, or is it a theoretical temprature?
2007-09-19 15:40:25 · 2 answers · asked by bluecuriosity 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
A vacuum has no temperature. The temperature of space is measured based on the spectrum and intensity of radiation received from space - it's the equivalent of a black body radiating at about 4 Kelvins.
2007-09-19 16:43:23 · answer #1 · answered by injanier 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is all from physics class, long ago. The establishment of the Kelvin scale is based on certain gases shrinking 1/473'rd of their volume (starting at 0C) per C degree as the temperature dropped.
There is no temperature of a perfect vacuum, since there is no matter. However, there is a lot of matter and antimatter out there, as well as some background radiation which may be from the big bang. On the average, there is enough matter and energy out there to assign an average temperature of 4K.
4K is much colder than anything on earth.
2007-09-19 15:55:43 · answer #2 · answered by Computer Guy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋