Is the idea of "empty space" is pure illusion?  Could this be why there is gravity?
829244
I know of no reputable astrophyscists who claim space is empty.  In fact, Brian Greene's "Fabric of the Cosmos" spends a lot of time talking about the stringy stuff that fills space.  The Higgs Field is also a something that fills space according to some theories.  Further, mass bends space, bent space has been observed; so it seems logical that space is a something (not a nothing) that can be bent.  So your premise that space is not empty is widely accepted.\n\nAlthough there are some short-lived massless quanta that can penetrate great distances, most cannot.  And the great distances have limits.  Even neutrinos have a limit on how deep they can penetrate a mass.  Gravity, on the other hand, is not diminished by interceding mass.  We are affected by measurable gravity in the deepest, darkest caves, for example.  So none of the known and theoretical quanta, save one, exhibit the characteristics of gravity.  \n\nThat one exception is the graviton, which is predicted by string/M theory.  The graviton has never been observed; so its existence has never been proved.\n\nSo your supposition that the effects of gravity are due to bombardments of quanta of some sort does not generally stand up to the evidence.  The one exception is the graviton, which is strictly theoretical and may not exist.
297208
As my education impressed on my mind; there is no empty space.  What we think of as "space" is not empty but a constant dance of virtual particals (protons/antiprotons, etc) constantly appearing out of the vacuum travelling a short distance, then touching and annihilating into nothing once again.  \n\n"Empty" space is filled with these interactions which I believe are known as vacuum fluctuations.  The law of "convservation of energy" is really something that holds on average.  Another principle called the uncertainty principle states that we cannot measure simultaneously the energy and time of a (system of particles?) more accurate than a constantant called h or hbar (a very small but finite number). \n\nSo in theory the universe can "borrow" energy from nowhere as long as that energy is returned before the h bar uncertainty in time runs out.  And thus "empty" space is filled with these vacuum fluctuations and is not really empty after all.  Of course I don't think I explained that too well.  See "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat" by John Gribben for a more coherent description
251659
Space is a 'fundamental' property of nature, which is a fancy way of saying that there is nothing more basic than Space as a medium of measurement.  Space is defined only as a relative porportion of distance when you compare at least two, very real, objects.  In this sense, space is not exactly nothing.\n\nAs a matter of fact, space as we now understand it, is filled completely with a very low level of energy called 'background radiation' which is most definitely something, even if it is very, very spread out.\n\nOne seemingly very odd property of Space is that it apparently is growing very fast, faster than the speed of light even, especially where it is the least 'filled up' with stuff.
601185
Space is the absence of matter, so if the universe didn't exist, there would still be space.
1180706
I think we, as humans with limited brain capacity, have to think of things in terms that we can understand. Instead of space being this infinite area, we put a shape to it, a circle.\n\nMy thought is that space truly goes on forever, and does not have a true shape.
613128
Great Question!\nActually, There is no such thing as a true vacuum.\nA true vacuum has never been created, anywhere, where the atomic count is zero.\nThere is always atomic content left to fill the "vacuous" space. No one has ever been able to creat a true vacuum.\n\nContrary to popular belief, empty space is not empty, and it is certainly not a vacuum. \nCheck the Wikipedia link below.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/vacuum......\n\n"Empty" space actually contains an average of 1 hydrogen atom for every 32 cubic centimeters of space, this data is per NASA.\n\nIn our own Milky Way, space is more dense with 1 hydrogen atom for every 1 cubic centimeter.\n\nTo answer your question,for space to "warp", according to special relativity, space/time must be flat. The analogy always used in books is that of a bowling ball on a bed sheet, with the bed sheet representing space/time, and the bowling ball representing any mass object.\nNow roll a marble across the bed sheet, and it will follow the curve of the sheet towards to bowling ball. \nBelieve it or not, This is how Einstein envisions gravity as described by his field equations.\n\n\nThis at least describes it based on what is currently accepted in physics.\nHope it helps.
1018508
Space doesn't exist. There are things IN space. Matter makes up the stars and planets and gasses and eveything you see. Everything you DON'T see, I.E. the large black void, is nothing. There is no matter or antimatter or anything there. It's just....emtpy. Therefore, it doesn't exist. Only the things in it exist.
909543
If the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away and it's the only galaxy on Earth to be seen by the naked eye, it leaves us to wonder how far it really is.\n\nPersonally, I googled it. I couldn't find a thing relating to the blank nothingness further than the universe.\nI only looked a little bit, but there are very few educational guesses on the Internet.\n\nMaybe you should try. Googling that is. Maybe it's you who'll find the right words to search it in.  \nThe words stumped me so the was probably my problem.\n\nGood luck on finding the answer!\n-Marissa
756131
You asked a very good question. The fact is that vacuum or "empty space" is NOT empty at all. Scientists have recently confirmed that vaccum contains "energy" and the energy density has been measured to be on the order of 10^-29 grams per cubic cm or 10^-47 GeV^4.\n\nSince we all know that mass and energy are equivalent through Einstein's Special Relativity, so we can certainly say that vacuum contains some form of "matter".\n\nBTW, it has also been confirmed that the majority of our Universe's mass/energy density is due to the mass/energy density of the vacuum. As a matter of fact, vacuum is rsponsible for 73% of it. This vacuum energy is also called "Dark Energy".
574838
It can and does. Most of the universe is empty space, with no matter or energy in it. Unless you mean all of space, as a whole. In which case, it doesn't exist devoid of matter and energy, and it is highly unlikely that it ever would. (Almost impossible, but no one really knows enough to be able to say that, for certain.) But seeing as how space is simply nothingness, I don't see why it couldn't.
514555
Space consists of nothing!\n\nSpace is mostly empty, with a spattering of matter in the form of galaxies, which are drifting further and further away from each other as time moves in the +ve direction.\n\nMatter and energy are mutually convertible.\n\nTime is the fourth dimension, and an important function of entropy or the running down of things.\n\nAs time moves in the +ve direction i.e. forward, entropy increases, things get run down and the energy dissipates over the expanding universe, as does matter, that means that as time goes by, the average density of the universe as we know it reduces, the matter-energy per unit area also reduces.\n\nAs time moves backward, entropy reduces, the space reduces to a point and matter and anti-matter coalesce to nothingness.\n\nst
509589
Yes, there are. If you move an object by half an atom's width, the smooth movements added together still make a quantum leap. If there were no quantum leaps, then there could be no space-time, since everything would be constricted to nothing.
626622
The universe is an indefinite entity.It is bounded by 'nothing' even in the strict sense of modern physics.
324864
Actually, There is no such thing as a true vacuum...Period!\n(exerpt from a previous answer)\nContrary to popular belief, empty space is not empty, and it is certainly not a vacuum. In fact, a true vacuum has never been created, anywhere, where the atomic count is zero.\nresearch it, its true.\n"Empty" space actually contains an average of 1 hydrogen atom for every 32 cubic centimeters of space, this data is per NASA.\n\nIn our own Milky Way, space is more dense with 1 hydrogen atom for every 1 cubic centimeter.\n\nOne day the misinformation of space as a vacuum will finally die out.\n\n\nspread the knowledge
4277
General Relativity, which is the modern theory of gravity has some specific ways in which space can be warped: mass, of course, and also is a gravity wave goes by, and I suppose there could be some relic weirdness left over from the Big Bang.\n\nHaving warped space without mass is basically saying that there is gravity in some region of space without a known cause, at least as far as General Relativity goes. Some people have tried to get rid of dark matter with new theories of gravity - this is essentially what you're proposing - but thus far it never really works out.
1090689
The empty space is not so empty.\nBillions of atoms and much more photons;\n1000 dm3 and 1,000,000 cm3.
882892
Science words.  I think about this alot. Even we humans have figured out how to create mini black holes, so I think that it's very possible the universe(s) was 'created'.  On the other hand, pure thought can create reality.  We may be someone's thoughts or someone's dream.....