fish is space

GJ02 · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:52

fish in space

random question

if you were to get a custom made fish tank say 72" x 24" x 25" to hold 180 gallons, fill it with water and the right amount of fish and then seal it tight, then send it up to space and let it float around in space, what exactly would happen ?

Nitefly · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:55

fish is space

Now there's a profound quote :eek:

The Halk · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:57

Assuming you had some way of releasing food into the water... the fish would be weightless. However, and I'm guessing here, they wouldn't be as affected as we are, since being in water is much closer to being weightless as being in air is....?

ryder · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:58

GJ02 said:
what exactly would happen ?

It would probably get smashed by some space-debris and all your little fishies would die...

Probably best to just keep the tank in your house

Amp34 · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:59

They'd die from lack of oxygen...

Ok, it is an interesting question, once logistics like food and oygen are sorted.

"andy" · 17 Jan 2011 at 21:59

the fish wouldnt be in space , they would be in water

lack of or lower mavity would affect them but it would then depend on the size of the fish

look at studies on ant farms etc in space

Tefal · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:00

assuming the tank could survive the pressure difference they'd slowly freeze

Amp34 · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:01

Tefal said:
assuming the tank could survive the pressure difference they'd slowly freeze

Slowly? Hmmm...

Tr Insanity · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:03

What about if you put the tank on a treadmill?

markweatherill · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:06

'bloop bloop Houston we have a bloop problem'

Mik3 · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:08

Did anyone else read it as 'fish in space'? I thought Nasa where sending fish to the ISS.

Jokester · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:09

I guess if it was in near earth orbit it would either give the fish a bad case of subburn if it was a glass tank or the tank would blow up because of the boiling water if it wasn't.

Selekt0r · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:40

Jokester said:
I guess if it was in near earth orbit it would either give the fish a bad case of subburn if it was a glass tank or the tank would blow up because of the boiling water if it wasn't.

Assuming the glass was strong enough and didn't break because of the vacuum outside then the water wouldn't boil because the pressure inside would remain unchanged.

Of course, the water would freeze due to the very low temperature (and expand as it does so), so unless there was enough 'airspace' inside the tank as well as water to accommodate the expansion then it would definately rupture (no matter how strong the glass). Then the water would boil away...

Either way - your fishies would be dead very quickly

Cosimo · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:44

Mik3 said:
Did anyone else read it as 'fish in space'? I thought Nasa where sending fish to the ISS.

Not NASA but groen.

Amp34 · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:44

Selekt0r said:
Assuming the glass was strong enough and didn't break because of the vacuum outside then the water wouldn't boil because the pressure inside would remain unchanged.

Of course, the water would freeze due to the very low temperature (and expand as it does so), so unless there was enough 'airspace' inside the tank as well as water to accommodate the expansion then it would definately rupture (no matter how strong the glass). Then the water would boil away...

Either way - your fishies would be dead very quickly

You sure? Freezing of water does not create an infinate pressure so I'm guessing some strong glass* would stop it, question is would it then remain liquid due to a pressure increase?

Hmm, anyone know thermo and fluid dynamics?

*well perhaps stronger than currently available but you get what I mean...

EDIT: Apparently not, phase changes in the water/ice would mean it would freeze no matter the pressure, but the pressure would be quite large on the box (in the region of 790MPa, or smaller depending on what phase it is in).

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99530.htm
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/phase.html

For those interested and bothered enough to work it out properly (I can't be), either way I do know that sort of pressure/stress is massive, equivilent the pressure/stress approximately 30km down in the crust...

AGD · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:46

Yep, the water would freeze and the fish would die.

edit: and if the water pressure was kept high enough not to freeze, the fish would likely be killed by the pressure anyway.

Zefan · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:47

Nitefly said:
Now there's a profound quote

Ciphon · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:50

What type of fish?

Bottom dweller's from the deepest oceans might fair better with cooler temperatures & more pressure?

Doohickey · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:52

Tr Insanity said:
What about if you put the tank on a treadmill?

You would have 2 sandwiches

Amp34 · 17 Jan 2011 at 23:00

Ciphon said:
What type of fish?

Bottom dweller's from the deepest oceans might fair better with cooler temperatures & more pressure?

Well through some quick wikiing and some bad maths the fish would have to survive around 7x the pressure at the bottom of the Marianas trench (around 100Mpa or 1000Bar/15,750 psi).

That and the cold...

So yes, even if the water didn't escape and the fish didn't die from the 0K temperatures they would surely be crushed...

So next question is how fast would the fish tank freeze?