Is there matter in space or is it just a big thing of nothing?

Of course there is matter in space. I believe you are referring to interstellar space and intergalactic space?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_dust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergalactic_medium

just space in general

Space really isn't a true vacuum, you're going to find atoms and particles everywhere.

Over the average space of the entire universe, i would be very interested to discover what the average density is.

Google and ye shall recieve:

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/ChristinaCheng.shtml

This post was edited by Dr_zoidberg71 on Dec 19 2008 01:19am

he's talking about a true vacuum?

he didn't mention a true vacuum, and furthermore there are no true vacuums in nature. It's a philosophical concept like infinity. Unobservable, but used in math.

I think an area of true vacuum could be described as a black hole?

a true vacuum is the abscence of anything. A black hole doesn't qualify because it is made up of matter, whatever form it may be in.

There is matter inside the event horizon that isn't part of the black hole, we just can't observe it.

This post was edited by Dr_zoidberg71 on Dec 19 2008 09:35am

That is the opposite of a black hole in my mind. A black hole is a ton of matter just condensed into an infinitesimally small area. In addition to that, black holes constantly eject matter and energy, so it is not a vacuum in that sense either.

As for matter, there is no such thing as a vacuum. Star dust, free radicals/particles, and potentially dark matter exist in space.

I'm afraid normal matter only makes up a very small percetage of the universe, the rest is dark matter.