is it just nothing? if i went to space with an open jar, closed it in space, and then studied what was inside, would there just be nothing? not a single atom? a photon maybe? how is space black if it is nothing?
In: Physics
The amount of “stuff” in space varies depending on how far out you go.
Just beyond the limit of our atmosphere, which is defined as either 50 miles or 100km, there is enough stuff their to actually slow down spacecraft by friction.
Then you move further out to inter-planetary space (inside our solar system), interstellar space (outside our solar system but inside our galaxy) to intergalactic space. Estimates are that there is on average one proton per cubic meter in intergalactic space ([source](https://www.universetoday.com/30280/intergalactic-space/)).
So your jar would likely be empty. Actually it would probably contain a few molecules that jumped out of the glass wall of the jar, I would guess. However if you sent up something bigger, like a truck, you would probably get a proton or two. Once you got back to earth and started to examine it, you wouldn’t find any difference between the intergalactic proton and the matter on earth.
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