Is it a force field like the glass dome in the Simpsons movie or the one surrounding Wakanda in Black Panther? Or is it just a region of gas? How does it hold itself together? Isn’t space a vaccum, so wouldn’t the atmosphere get sucked into space? Or is gravity strong enough to counter the vaccum of space?
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It’s a region of gas. There’s no glue holding it together – every individual molecule of air is pulled down by gravity and by piling up atop one another they manage to create a significant pressure downward.
Vacuum doesn’t apply force – it applies no force at all. Air applies a force outward. This outward force counteracts gravity. Otherwise our atmosphere would collapse into a flat sheet over the surface. If gravity got stronger, our atmosphere would squish down more, and if gravity decreased our atmosphere would expand.
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