[Physics] Temperature of vacuum chamber on Earth

temperaturethermodynamicsvacuum

Does the temperature of a vacuum chamber drop if left for 24 hours or more, since some in space in quite cold somewhere and quite hot how does vacuum become cold near to absolute zero.

Best Answer

As pointed out by the comments, vacuum itself does not have temperature, since temperature is defined in terms of the kinetic energy of the particles. However, if you put an object (let's say an idealized blackbody) inside the vacuum, its temperature is not simply zero. The temperature will be actually related to the relation of incoming and outgoing radiation. This is the case since electromagnetic radiation can indeed travel through vacuum. In a situation where there is no appreciable source of radiation such as a star, and the object is left by itself inside the vacuum, its temperature will decrease until it reaches about 3 K, the temperature of cosmic background radiation. At such temperature, the object will reach equilibrium.