• Question: What would happen to different elements when in the vacuum of space? Would they react in different ways or would nothing happen and it just be anti-climatic?

    Asked by anon-227027 to William, Thibaut "Tibo", Harry, Georgia, Emily, Aimee on 15 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: William Wiseman

      William Wiseman answered on 15 Nov 2019:

      Some reactions happen is space because of all of the radiation that’s up there. Some really high energy waves cause reactions to happen in space. Being in a vacuum just means two molecules may never meet to react

    • Photo: Aimee Egglestone

      Aimee Egglestone answered on 15 Nov 2019:

      A lot of reactions are much less likely to happen in a vacuum because there’s less energy, and most reactions need energy to work!

    • Photo: Georgia Orton

      Georgia Orton answered on 16 Nov 2019:

      This is a really cool question. To add to the answers from the others:
      There is a type of chemistry research called astrochemistry where scientists reach this type of thing. Some have a chamber with a vacumn and inset small amounts of chemicals/elements to see how they react. This will help us understand better how stuff reacts in space.

    • Photo: Thibaut Deviese

      Thibaut Deviese answered on 16 Nov 2019:

      A lot of interesting reactions are occurring in the interstellar space. It is the name given to the space “between the stars” and this is made up of clouds of gases and dust particles that can make reactions.

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