© Charles Chandler

 

The problem here is with definitions. ;) The question, as I see it, is, "If there were two electrodes with a voltage between them, and with nothing but a pure vacuum (except for the electrodes), would there be any resistance to the flow of current?" Granted, once the electrons start flowing through the pure vacuum, it isn't exactly a pure vacuum anymore, because now it has particles in it. But that's not the point. The point is that the medium itself (if you can call a vacuum a "medium") doesn't impede the flow of particles, so there is no resistance, either mechanical or electrical.

 

The context in which this comes up is that EU proponents think that space is a resistor, and is therefore capable of storing charges. Then, if there is a filament of some kind between two stars, or galaxies, or whatever, there can be a current, as if there was a wire there. But this is just a misunderstanding of the confusing way that EEs talk about the properties of a vacuum. Vacuums don't conduct electricity in the same sense that Michael Jackson concerts don't draw crowds anymore, but it isn't that the concert hall couldn't handle it — it's that there isn't anything to see. :D