Definition
Generating and maintaining a near-vacuum is challenging (requiring technical rigor) because ambient pressure tends to push matter forcefully into the evacuated chamber; and generating a true vacuum (devoid of any matter at all) is extremely challenging.
Generating a vacuum is impossible (a vacuum can never exist) owing to the inherent nature of the universe.
In Context
- "The development of practical electric light bulbs was challenging not least because nature abhors a vacuum: removing all air from the bulbs was not as easy as it at first seemed."
- "The ancients believed that nature abhors a vacuum."
See Also
- horror vacui
- in a vacuum