Will a Suction Cup Work in Space?

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No, it won’t. We’ve all seen pictures of astronauts walking in space, and they are always prevented from drifting away from the spaceship to their death by a tether of some sort. But if you want to avoid getting tangled up in a tether, why not just use a suction cup?

The problem is the lack of air in outer space. Just as no air means that in space no one will hear you scream, no air also means that a suction cup will not stick. On Earth, when you stick a suction cup to something, air is squeezed out of the cup, creating a region of low pressure inside. The air pressure of the atmosphere outside the cup pressing down on the low pressure inside is what creates the suction. (This is why it’s a good idea to wet the edge of the cup before pressing it on something. The water creates a tight seal that doesn’t allow air to seep into the cup.) In space, there would be zero air pressure both inside and outside the cup, so it would not stick.