sanguinepar , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

"What exactly makes the matter “want” to go into a empty space? What creates that pressure? "

My understanding is only general, but I don’t think that it’s the case that matter wants to go to a vacuum, so much as that when there’s an imbalance of pressure (in this case between a pressured space and a vacuum), the pressure from the pressurised space has nothing to counter it, so matter is pushed in that direction.

Just as in a balloon the air is under more pressure than the air outside it - once there’s a way for it to escape, it just will do, until the pressure is equalised.

Sukisuki OP , 10 months ago

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

running_ragged , 10 months ago

The pressure of a non vacuum space would be generated by the gaseous molecules as they collide with the walls of their container.

My layman’s understanding is to get 0 pressure, you either need zero molecules, or the molecules can’t move. Which can only happen at 0K, theoretically.

Spuddaccino , 10 months ago

This is true, in practical terms. The Ideal Gas Law gives us the equation PV=nRT, for gas pressure P, volume of container V, number of molecules n, R a constant that doesn’t matter here, and temperature T in Kelvin. The only other theoretical way to get 0 pressure would be to have infinite volume, but that’s hardly practical.

nukeworker10 , 10 months ago

No, a vacuum is a lack of pressure. Anything that is at a lower pressure than the surrounding atmosphere will act the same as a vacuum.