1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Audible dot com is the leading provider of digital audio 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:05,800 Speaker 1: books and spoken word, with over one tho titles to 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: choose from. Audible lets you listen to your favorite books anywhere, anytime. 4 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: Go to audible podcast dot com slash stuff brain to 5 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: get a free audio book download of your choice when 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: you sign up today. Welcome to brain Stuff from how 7 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com where smart happens. Hi. I am 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: Marshall Brain with today's question. If Nature of Horrors a vacuum, 9 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: then why doesn't the vacuum of space sec away all 10 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: of Earth's atmosphere? From our daily experience with nature, it 11 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: does seem like Nature of Horrors a vacuum. If you 12 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: create a vacuum inside a container here on Earth, nature 13 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: will fill the container with air very quickly if you 14 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: puncture that container. On the other hand, we know that 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: outer space is a giant vacuum. Outer space is infinitely 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: larger than Earth. Ninety nine point nine percent of our 17 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: universe is a vacuum. Based on this, it might be 18 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: better to say that nature loves a vacuum, So why 19 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: doesn't the vacuum of outer space suck away our atmosphere? 20 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 1: Say you're standing on Earth holding a glass bottle. If 21 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: you attach the bottle to a vacuum pump, pump out 22 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: all the air, and then seal the bottle. The bottle 23 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: contains a vacuum. If you put a hole in the bottle, 24 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: air rushes in. But the reason it rushes in is 25 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: because of the air pressure around the bottle. Standing on 26 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: the ground, we are standing in an ocean of air 27 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,479 Speaker 1: that rises many miles above us. The air molecules stack 28 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: up on each other and they create the pressure of 29 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: fourteen point seven pounds per square inch at sea level. 30 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: The higher you rise in the atmosphere, the shorter the 31 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,279 Speaker 1: stack of molecules, so the lower the pressure at sea level. 32 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: It's the weight of all of the molecules stacked above 33 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: the bottle, fourteen point seven pounds of them in every 34 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: square inch that forces the molecule into the punctured vacuum. 35 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: If you were to travel in a rocket to the 36 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: edge of the atmosphere, you would find that there is 37 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: no air pressure. Instead, individual air molecules are zipping around 38 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,359 Speaker 1: in the vacuum of space. The molecules can zip anywhere 39 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: they like, but they tend to zip towards the Earth 40 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: because the Earth's gravity acts on them, just like it 41 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: acts on anything else with mass. The reason the vacuum 42 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: of space doesn't attract the molecules is because there is 43 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: no suction to the vacuum space. There's no air pressure 44 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,079 Speaker 1: forcing things into that vacuum. All there is in space 45 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: is molecules traveling through the vacuum. You can see that 46 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: there's no danger of the vacuum sucking our atmosphere away, 47 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: but it turns out that there is another force that 48 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: could strip away the atmosphere. That force is called solar wind. Fortunately, 49 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: the atmosphere is protected from the solar wind by the 50 00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: Earth's magnetic field. From on this and thousands of other 51 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: topics because it how stuff works dot com. Audible dot 52 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: com is the leading provider of digital audio books and 53 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: spoken word, with over one thousand titles to choose from. 54 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: Audible lets you listen to your favorite books anywhere, anytime. 55 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: Go to audible podcast dot com slash stuff brain to 56 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: get a free audio book download of your choice when 57 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: you sign up today.