Would a glass of water in space freeze or boil?
Dear Cecil: If cold is simply the absence of heat, i.e., the absence of rapidly moving molecules of water or air, then how come vacuum-packed canned food doesn’t come out frozen, or at least very cold? And then if you walked a hundred feet out of your spaceship with a glass of water, would the water freeze because of the vacuum, or would it boil since there’s no air pressure or barometric pressure to overcome? — Barry H., Chicago Christ Almighty, Barry, you’re asking for a short course in thermodynamics. Don’t you guys want to know about Neil Sedaka anymore? Let’s clear up a couple misconceptions to start with. First, your idea that cold is “the absence of rapidly moving molecules of water or air” is a bit confused. Cold refers to very slow-moving molecules of anything, whether water, air, or Eskimo Pies. If you have no molecules at all, the concept of temperature is meaningless. That’s why it’s technically incorrect to speak of the “cold of outer space”–strictly speaking, space has n
