As far I understand gravity holds the air back down, but surely it isn’t like a seal where air can’t escape
In: Planetary Science
A vacuum doesn’t suck, it’s the pressure of the air surrounding the vacuum that tries to expand to fill the available volume. But the reason the atmosphere doesn’t just expand into space is because gravity holds it down.
If you have a baseball and drop it, it will fall because of gravity. Air is made of atoms. Think of a single atom (molecule) of air as a tiny little ball. If you drop a tiny little ball, it will still fall because of gravity. The atmosphere is just a bunch of balls of air like a ball pit with the balls below holding up the balls above. Gravity makes sure all the little balls of air want to fall down into the pit.
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