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Where Is Space?

(Don’t worry, I’m not asking that in the quasi-philosophical manner that sends anyone familiar with relativistic physics screaming for cover.)

On the surface of the planet Earth, there is Something. Lots of somethings, actually; rock and water and dirt and metal and air and loads more besides. By contrast if you were to go out into interplanetary space you would find Nothing. Or at least, almost Nothing; even the hard vacuum of intergalactic space has trace elements of Something in it – a few particles of hydrogen/helium per cubic metre, electromagnetic radiation, possibly even dark matter/dark energy if no better culprit can be found for their effects on the universe – but in general you’d have to work very hard to find somewhere with less Something than outer space. If you get into a rocket and blast off into the heavens, you will at some point transition from the Something-rich environment of Earth to the large quantity of Nothing that makes up outer space.

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