How did we know that Physics law will hold true even in outer space?

Question

Like was there some concrete validation which proved that the laws work same outside the atmosphere of the Earth in space too? Since space was an unknown factor in early days

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Answer 1

So it depends on the specific “Physics law” you are talking about. Because we have actually done a number of space launches specifically to figure out how stuff worked up there, especially in the early days.

But a lot of our understanding of physics already came from looking at stuff in outer space *long* before we ever *went* to space.

For example, it was from our understanding of gravity that people calculated that there must be a planet out past Uranus, and they even calculated exactly where it *should* be. So astronomers pointed their telescopes where the physicists told them to. That unknown planet?

Neptune.

So had every reason to expect we understood how gravity in space worked.

The same goes for electromagnetism, we discovered the Earth’s magnetic field and understood its interaction with the Sun and other sources of carges particles. Long before we went to space.

That means we already understood how two of the fundamental forces of the universe worked in space (the other two have to do with tiny atomic scales stuff, which we had no reason to expect to change, either)