RG.CUTTER%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA (01/15/84)
From: Joseph D. Turner <RG.CUTTER%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA> Of course it would increase -- you're getting closer to a big source of tons of little particles (That isn't what I really mean, I just can't find the right words at the moment). In any event, space isn't "the absence of anything" -- there are zillions of particles out there... they're just very, very, v e r y, *v e r y* far apart... Joe
buck%NRL-CSS@sri-unix.UUCP (01/18/84)
From: Joe Buck <buck@NRL-CSS> At least two people have posted messages indicating their belief that the concept of density of a vacuum is absurd. Since density is mass over volume, a vacuum has a density of zero. Actually the situation is more complex. Quantum field theory shows that all vacuums have nonzero density, because particle pairs are constantly being created and destroyed out of nothing. Further discussions of vacuums should probably move to the physics list.