ChatterBank21 mins ago
Temperature in a vacume
If the vacuum of space is nothing, how can it have a temperature and if it has, how can it be measured?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I would take issue with much of both of those answers linked to above.
In both cases the thermometer is reading the temperature of the thermometer itself when separated from its surroundings by a vacuum. The thermometer is NOT measuring the temperature of the vacuum. A vacuum does not have a temperature - it is NOT absolute zero, it is NOT room temperature, and it is NOT any other specified temperature.
In a vacuum, the perceived temperature depends upon the reletionship between radiation absorbed and radiation emitted.
In both cases the thermometer is reading the temperature of the thermometer itself when separated from its surroundings by a vacuum. The thermometer is NOT measuring the temperature of the vacuum. A vacuum does not have a temperature - it is NOT absolute zero, it is NOT room temperature, and it is NOT any other specified temperature.
In a vacuum, the perceived temperature depends upon the reletionship between radiation absorbed and radiation emitted.
I'm sure gen2 could substantiate her statement, jadyn. It's axiomatic that in the complete absence of matter there can be no temperature. But that doesn't make your sources wrong; it's just a matter of how you phrase the question. To say that the vacuum of space has no temperature is true but it's not the whole story; you need to know about what happens to the temperature of a body in that vacuum (and to know that space isn't a perfect vacuum) to get the whole picture.
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