Possibly insane question

partyatmygaff

Ok, Hypothetically speaking if the vacuum of space was not a vacuum but it was actually composed entirely of Hydrogen gas and Oxygen gas and an astronaut in the ISS lit a match and somehow he managed to throw it outside.

What would happen? Regarding the universe, planet earth and the ISS?


Would the universe somehow explode and empty it contents so to speak?

Turtwig

Yep Insane.

I think you'd have an explosion and actually end up with water?
Yes though if you were to fill the entire universe with nitrogylcerin or something.
Fill entire universe with explosive compound and boom!
Fill it with non explosive compound and no boom.:)

partyatmygaff

Malty_T wrote: »

Yep Insane.

I think you'd have an explosion and actually end up with water?
Yes though if you were to fill the entire universe with nitrogylcerin or something.
Fill entire universe with explosive compound and boom!
Fill it with non explosive compound and no boom.:)

No way it would turn into water, If I fill a jar with pure oxygen and pure hydrogen in equal amounts and drop a match in it would ignite and simply explode.
I believe the reaction would result in HO2, whatever that may be. It wouldn't be water I think.

Or atleast thats what LC Chem has thought me so far

Turtwig

partyatmygaff wrote: »

No way it would turn into water, If I fill a jar with pure oxygen and pure hydrogen in equal amounts and drop a match in it would ignite and simply explode.

Or atleast thats what LC Chem has thought me so far

The explosion would act as a catalyst and you should end up with water, me thinks.

Turtwig

CRAP!!

I thought this was the popular science thread.:o
You should ignore my comments until someone who actually knows their chemistry responds.

cianl1

Ok, while I agree that an explosion would possibly result since these two gases are highly combustable. As far as water goes? If any water is formed at all, it won't be liquid water. Factoring in the temperature of space it would freeze on formation. I should know this but it's late and I'm tired and can't be bothered studying anymore.

partyatmygaff

cianl1 wrote: »

Ok, while I agree that an explosion would possibly result since these two gases are highly combustable. As far as water goes? If any water is formed at all, it won't be liquid water. Factoring in the temperature of space it would freeze on formation. I should know this but it's late and I'm tired and can't be bothered studying anymore.

Yes but if water indeed is formed (Which I don't think happens in when hydrogen combusts in oxygen but anyway) wouldn't this ice water expand as it freezes and then somehow become larger in volume than the universe?

cianl1

Yes, I was getting back to this. Was completely unfocused earlier, now I've got some food in me I can think straight.

No water is formed, since hydrogen is merely combusting in oxygen. Honestly, I have no idea what would happen to universe if your hypothetical was actually the case. Depending on the moles of substance, there should be a great deal of oxygen left over.

Since this is so far out there, and that no one could possibly test such a thing on such a large scale, no one knows exactly what the hell would happen.

EDIT: Long story short, yes it was an insane question. You have a serious mental defect and may God have mercy on your soul.

Fringe

Water does form. The whole explosion is due to the combustion of hydrogen where H2 + 1/2O2 = H2O. Of course, this probably won't be liquid but this is what you'd expected normally when you burn hydrogen on Earth. I think we can think of this as just a really big box of hydrogen and oxygen and then one little spark sets off a huge explosion. I don't really know what'll happen since it is that insane.

Professor_Fink

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Ok, Hypothetically speaking if the vacuum of space was not a vacuum but it was actually composed entirely of Hydrogen gas and Oxygen gas and an astronaut in the ISS lit a match and somehow he managed to throw it outside.

What would happen? Regarding the universe, planet earth and the ISS?


Would the universe somehow explode and empty it contents so to speak?

Well, it all depends on pressure. As others here have pointed out, in sufficient concentration hydrogen and oxygen will for water. Ideally you want a 2:1 mix for the biggest bang. Unfortunately filling the universe with gas in sufficient concentration for it to explode would dramatically change the density of the universe, and effect the entire structure of space time. I'm guessing it would probably put us inside a blackhole, but I haven't done the maths (though I can if you really want it). So I guess the answer you want is that you get a big explosion causing increased temperature and pressure. Unfortunately setting up the initial conditions required dramatically changes the universe to such an extent that the earth probably couldn't exist.

cianl1

Fringe wrote: »

Water does form. The whole explosion is due to the combustion of hydrogen where H2 + 1/2O2 = H2O. Of course, this probably won't be liquid but this is what you'd expected normally when you burn hydrogen on Earth. I think we can think of this as just a really big box of hydrogen and oxygen and then one little spark sets off a huge explosion. I don't really know what'll happen since it is that insane.

Professor_Fink wrote: »

Well, it all depends on pressure. As others here have pointed out, in sufficient concentration hydrogen and oxygen will for water. Ideally you want a 2:1 mix for the biggest bang. Unfortunately filling the universe with gas in sufficient concentration for it to explode would dramatically change the density of the universe, and effect the entire structure of space time. I'm guessing it would probably put us inside a blackhole, but I haven't done the maths (though I can if you really want it). So I guess the answer you want is that you get a big explosion causing increased temperature and pressure. Unfortunately setting up the initial conditions required dramatically changes the universe to such an extent that the earth probably couldn't exist.

That's basically what I was getting at. I wasn't sure about the water despite the fact that I should know it at this stage. Bad Cian! But to be fair, the question was so out there, that it threw me.

partyatmygaff

Would the universe not expand to the degree it breaks its "walls" for lack of the proper term? Kind of like a balloon filled with hydrogen and oxygen that is somehow internally ignited without penetrating the surface of the balloon, it will expand and explode.

I know its absolutely mind boggling but I wouldn't have asked if it weren't that I cannot get my head around it.

Professor_Fink

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Would the universe not expand to the degree it breaks its "walls" for lack of the proper term? Kind of like a balloon filled with hydrogen and oxygen that is somehow internally ignited without penetrating the surface of the balloon, it will expand and explode.

I know its absolutely mind boggling but I wouldn't have asked if it weren't that I cannot get my head around it.

No, because the density of the universe would be so high it would dramatically alter the large scale structure of space time. You're posing a question that simply isn't a possible scenario for our universe. If you set up the universe as in your question, it would be a much different place even before you started the chemical reaction.

Also, the expansion of the explosion would be significantly slower than the rate at which the universe is already expanding (though in your scenario we couldn't have an expanding universe to begin with).

So basically the question doesn't make sense, since the scenario taken as the initial condition is not one supported by the laws of physics. It's not particularly mind bending, it's just that it isn't a reasonable configuration of the universe.

You could ask "what if every star in the universe went super nova at exactly the same time?", which is presumably similar to what you actually want: a giant explosion. The answer is pretty simply that you would get a giant explosion, we'd all be dead, the universe would have a more even spread of matter and a different ratio of elements, but would probably eventually coalesce back into a similar structure to what we see now.

Since any explosion would be limited by the speed of light, it likely wouldn't had a huge impact on the structure of the universe, and the expansion wouldn't significantly change.