what happens to food in outer space? does it rot?
915738
no absolutely not !! rotting is an organic process initiated by microorganism in the air. in the space our food is specially sterized and air is constantly refined.So if food is itself is not contaminated i dont think it will rot
986563
all right... so here's the deal.\n\naccording to the local health department (i'm quite sure this is a standard), any food that hits the floor becomes trash.  there is no 5 second rule.\n\nadditionally, bacteria isn't the only thing on the ground.  perhaps there is dirt, and fire doesn't kill dirt.  dirt may be sterile, but it's still gross.\n\nimportantly, let's imagine that there is a chemical on the ground, like a cleanser.  that won't cook off either.  and that is poison.  \n\ncooking food to high enough temperatures will indeed kill bacteria, but here is another myth debunked.\n\nsuppose you leave some food out at room temperature for 12 hours, then you cook it up to boiling.  you kill all the bacteria, right?  right, you will kill all the bacteria.  so the food is safe to eat, right?  wrong.  bacteria produce biproducts which are poisonous, deadly even, and these chemicals are in fact dead already and heat does not necessarily destroy them.\n\nso heat is not a cure all for food, and the 5 second rule is crap.
612672
well unfortunately, outerspace is a whole lot of nothing, so it doesnt have to take up any space.  granted there are molecules floating around out there, but for the most part there isnt any matter in empty outer space
1089590
Because in space all climates are specifically maintained and regulated, plants grow, live, digest food, and gather energy in different ways than they do on earth. Also in space, plants are studied in Zero gravity. Scientists do this to examine the internal forces within a plant to see if gravity negatively or positively affects a plants life cycle.
380835
your body absorbes the liquid from the food you eat...waste is then produced...aka poo :)
482516
decay....means to rot and stuff...
303140
For all practical purpose. What lives is the unsupported body tissue that will eventually succumb to rot. The body decays if not supported by life. Food for another life source be it Beast, cannibalism or Bacteria. Face it, Your toast.
899326
I don't think anything can rot without air. Depending where it was, it could either freeze, or burn into nothing...
789550
It is a waste of food... some of the food goes back to the vendors (like bread, potato chips, etc) where they try to resell it in outlet stores, or they donate it to charities.\n\nHigh spoilage foods such as milk, meat and perishables go into the trash ...meats are put down a disposal. Sometimes, tallow (grease) companies and farmers are contracted to pick up the spoiled produce to be recycled into fertilizer or fed as pig slop.\n\nBoxed foods are destroyed in a compactor and the store gets credit for disposing of them.
1094822
It is a very morbid thought.\n\nIn a few seconds it will be dead. If the body orbits the Earth and being exposed to the Sun it will be cooking on one side and freezing on the other. Gasses trapped inside the body would try to escape from all the orifices...\n\nSorry  it is too much I  have run to run ...
631342
it depends on the exoansion of the universe. if it is expanding too fast for gravity of all the bodies to pull it back together, eventually it will spread out so far that there will be no motion and the entire universe will reach absolute 0 temperature. but, if gravity can eventually reverse the expansion of the universe, everything will be suckiked into 1 black hole and return to a singularity, like it began at the big bang. this will have basically infinite temperature. the first case is ice, the second fire. i think some scientists measured the expansion and they think it will shrink eventually, going back to a dot, but i dont think they were really sure.
268556
no....\n\nit wont need fuel..... it is moving in the space only through the gravitional force...
602689
As air pressure drops, the boiling point of liquids drops.  That's why water boils faster (at a lower temperature) as you climb a mountain.\n\nIn a vacuum, the boiling point drops to zero.  Even though the average temperature of space is around 4 Kelvin, all of the liquids and fluids in the dead body will boil away.\n\nSoon you will end up with a freeze-dried husk.  The corpse will only weigh a few pounds, completely mummified.  After that, it will last almost indefinitely.
1067317
Many things are in space...the are compounts of gases, metals, rock and ice...Elements you can find on earth too
471062
well the tupperware technically sealed it inside without much oxygen coming in to cause rotting. However, the meat was at room temperature or whatever there at your place.\n\nI wouldn't serve it to others. Eat it and see. Worse case, you miss a day of work because of diahrea and take some pepto and spend the day on the couch watching cable or playing Xbox.
53483
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/journals/space/kloeris/04-29-01.html\n\nhttp://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215468/space_food.htm\n\nhttp://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/astronauts/living_eating.asp
825792
You have to be more specific.  Microorganisms grow in pretty much every condition on Earth, including hot and sulfurous ocean water by volcanic vents, in ice at the poles, in badly-preserved jars (botulism--anaerobic), inside the body, in ponds, in caves, in the dark, in the sunlight...it all depends on the specific type of microorganism.\n\nFor instance, sugar tends to kill bacteria, but mold loves sugar.  So a jar of jelly left in a fridge for a long time (cold, wet, sugary environment for the microorganisms) might not have bacteria, but it could have fuzzy mold on it.  It all depends.  \n\nBut from a food safety standpoint, you want food kept either below 40 degrees fahrenheit, or above 140 degrees, and keep it wrapped up and covered to avoid stuff dropping in it.  In general, microorganisms like: warm (not hot or cold), dark, moist, and somewhat neutral pH.  That'll grow mold, mildew, fungus, and many types of bacteria.  They usually don't like clean surfaces and they tend to die in chlorine bleach.