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Quote:
Originally Posted by StarsOverTexas
Q - From my understanding, space is a extremely cold and absolute vacuum...one where no oxygen is present and no gravity (if I'm wrong here, then my question is shot, haha)
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Space, away from other bodies? "Empty" space? There's gravity everywhere, for there are bodies all around attracting gravitationally. If you are in low-Earth orbit, like astronauts spend most of their time, you are bound gravitationally to the Earth. You experience "microgravity" (AKA zero G) because you, and everything with you, are in freefall. To get away from gravity you must get away from all objects. That can't be done without leaving the Universe, and so far as anyone knows that can't be done. But you can get far away, and then their gravitational effect will be minuscule. Like, travel a couple of lightyears. Then you'll barely notice gravity of other objects, but they will be there and their effects could be measured.
No oxygen? Empty space is empty -- mostly, just a few atoms here and there (but a tiny fraction of those few will be oxygen).
But, bodies in space are not empty. They are full of stuff. Some of that stuff is oxygen. Sometimes in large quantities. Oxygen isn't magic stuff. It's one of many elements. Earth has oxygen. The Moon has oxygen. Mars has oxygen. And the list is long. (Earth has plenty of gaseous oxygen, for which we can thank the plants mostly; that makes it easy for us to breathe; most other bodies don't have gaseous oxygen like Earth.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarsOverTexas
Ok...so us finding ice on asteroids, Mars, and the Moon...doesn't that prove that Oxygen is present in space? And before Ice can be formed, it would have have start in a liquid state...and even for rapid transformation, Oxygen molecules would have to bond to Hydrogen to create the ice...right??? How is there ice in space when space is suppose to be absent of Oxygen...?
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Right. Plenty of oxygen (and other elements) atoms are in other bodies in space. No surprise.
(It doesn't affect your argument, but you have no basis to claim that all ice must first exist as liquid. That doesn't follow. Gaseous matter can convert into solid matter without going through the liquid phase -- under the right temperatures and pressures. Look up "phase transition" (
Wikipedia).)
Since there is oxygen (and other elements) "in space" there's no problem with ice existing in space. There is lots of water, lots of water ice. Some moons, like Europa, have much much deeper oceans than Earth's. The gas giants probably have thick water layers probably tens, hundreds of times Earth's water. Mars has been shown to have surface and near-surface water ice deposits in some regions, and deeper thick ice layers (but is probably drier than Earth overall). There's lots of oxygen, lots of water, in the solar system.
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Style: you might get more responses if you don't ask so many questions at once. It's hard to tackle so much. Ask more bite-size stuff. Like: is there oxygen is space? And stop and wait for answers. Then proceed if you have further questions.