Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
This assumes you have relatively normal air temperature and pressure.
Things change quite a bit if you interpret space to mean "open vacuum of space"
Then you have to decide if you mean orbit exposed to solar radiation, or interstellar exposed to galactic radiation. Or just in null gravity with null radiation.
This question can have a lot of answers depending on context.
if you're not at relatively normal temperature and pressure, then you won't have liquid water anyway. and i don't think the kid was asking about water vapor or one of the various forms of ice.
He wants an explanation for his kid, no need to get into the weeds.
Depends on if the kid meant "in space" or "on something like the space station".
Kids being kids, he probably literally meant space, not realizing the implications of water (possibly) becoming gaseous from lack of pressure (I assume?).
For that age, it would be a good learning experience to explain in a spaceship vs in space - just not the triple point of water, or the different ices, etc.
Not realizing the implications, he probably meant "in zero gravity".