• Question: why isn't there oxygen in space

    Asked by 755bsmf29 to Elliot, Hazel, Thomas on 23 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Thomas Biggans

      Thomas Biggans answered on 23 Jun 2016:

      Space is a vacuum which means there’s nothing in it. If we tried to add oxygen to space it would spread out like oxygen likes to do but it’ll just keep going until its so spread out its like there’s no oxygen there.

      The oxygen in the universe is attracted by gravity to planets. This is how Earth’s atmosphere is made. Gravity pulls the oxygen down to the centre of the Earth but oxygen wants to spread out into space so it finds a balance in the middle which happens to be the Earth’s surface where we live.

    • Photo: Elliot Jokl

      Elliot Jokl answered on 24 Jun 2016:

      Just to say, space isn’t quite a perfect vacuum, though it is pretty close to it. That means there is still stuff in what we think of as the empty spaces, it is just incredibly spread out. So there will be oxygen around, but in tiny amounts spread out very far apart.

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