Regarding Space surrounding the earth

[blackstealth007]

I am just curious, kinda dumb question, but lets just say you were flying in a spaceship with your friend, he opened the door and pushed you out. You dont have a spacesuit on. What will happen? Isnt space just a oxygen-less environment? Would you just choke to death? or suffocate?

 

[Biftheunderstudy]

Much worse than that. Space is a vacuum, not just oxygenless but everything-less. First the oxygen and any other gas in your blood and body would try to escape--like opening a can of soda. If your mouth or nose were open at the time all the air in you lungs/airway are sucked out VERY quickly probably collapsing both your lungs in the process. The term boiling comes to mind when thinking about this phenomenon. I don't imagine it would be very nice on the eyeballs or your brain for that matter. Ear drums would probably blow outward...

You get the picture.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Biftheunderstudy
Much worse than that. Space is a vacuum, not just oxygenless but everything-less. First the oxygen and any other gas in your blood and body would try to escape--like opening a can of soda. If your mouth or nose were open at the time all the air in you lungs/airway are sucked out VERY quickly probably collapsing both your lungs in the process. The term boiling comes to mind when thinking about this phenomenon. I don't imagine it would be very nice on the eyeballs or your brain for that matter. Ear drums would probably blow outward...

You get the picture.

That sounds fairly accurate I think. The gases in your body would expel outwards, pushing any membranes in the way outwards as well. The liquids would largely boil off quickly, freezing the rest.

 

[wwswimming]

there's a scene in the movie "Total Recall" where Arnold Schwarz. & his partner in whatever
are cast out onto a sort of sand-dune, in a vacuum, just after they have activated the
"thing to create an atmosphere" (which is very big).

they do a little big of the eyeball bulging thing.

having your blood boil while it's in your body does not sound pleasant.

 

[imported_Hamzter]

You'd fart.

I read while back about a guy that actually survived being in a vacuum for 30 seconds, i think it was for testing a suit or something, it was damaged and he lost pressure for 30 seconds before they were able to repressurise the vacuum chamber. Alot of the common myths like exploding and bulgining eyeballs are false, but one thing I do remember was that the guy said he could feel the water boiling on his tongue before he passed out! As far as I know your blood wouldn't boil as there's sufficient pressure inside your body, however it's likely that disolved gasses will form bubbles, which are potentially lethal if they're not re-dissolved fast.

 

[QuantumPion]

Even in worst case scenario of explosively opening the door to your space ship wouldn't cause immediate death, because the difference in pressure from the inside of the space ship (probably pressurized to something like that of the inside of a commercial airplane, ~0.75 atm) isn't a huge pressure differential. The worst that would happen would be if you were holding a deep breath, your lungs might rupture. You would become unconscious after 10 seconds, because the blood in your lungs exposed to a vacuum gives up all its air and it takes 10 seconds for this deoxygenated blood to reach your brain. While the water in your mouth would boil, it isn't as bad as it sounds. The moisture isn't hot like a pot of boiling water, it is just evaporating and cooling rapidly. I imagine the sensation would be like eating a mouthful of poprocks and drinking a glass of ice cold water.

I remember reading about an accident involving a diving bell and a decompression chamber where some divers were explosively decompressed from 9 atm to 1 atm. I think their bodies did literally explode, i.e. their limbs blown off and all their internal organs exploding, which doesn't sound like much fun at all.

 

[dkozloski]

In the early years, NASA did some testing on emergency suits and systems for astronauts. One emergency suit looked like long underwear made from a coarse mesh cloth. It was fitted to a chimpanzee who was then subjected to an explosive decompression in a test chamber. The chimp survived but there was no way in hell they were going to get him back in the chamber for a second run.

 

[edcarman]

I found two articles, one from NASA and the other from a NASA scientist:
Human Body in a Vacuum
Explosive Decompression and Vacuum Exposure:

The pressure drop itself won't affect you to badly (unless you're holding your breathe). The references suggest that the mechanical effects are reversible within a few hours of returning to normal pressures (and are very much like the decompression effects suffered by divers).
The main problem, as mentioned above, is hypoxia - the oxygen leaving your blood - leading to asphyxiation. Provided you don't suffer a heart attack, it is suggested that you should be able to survive exposure of between 60-90 seconds.
Also, depending on where you are in relation to the sun, you could received severe sunburn from the unshielded ultraviolet. If you are out of the sun, the cold will not be too great a problem since, over a short exposure time, your heat loss to space will be very similar to your heat loss on a cold (10°C) windy day.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
Even in worst case scenario of explosively opening the door to your space ship wouldn't cause immediate death, because the difference in pressure from the inside of the space ship (probably pressurized to something like that of the inside of a commercial airplane, ~0.75 atm) isn't a huge pressure differential. The worst that would happen would be if you were holding a deep breath, your lungs might rupture. You would become unconscious after 10 seconds, because the blood in your lungs exposed to a vacuum gives up all its air and it takes 10 seconds for this deoxygenated blood to reach your brain. While the water in your mouth would boil, it isn't as bad as it sounds. The moisture isn't hot like a pot of boiling water, it is just evaporating and cooling rapidly. I imagine the sensation would be like eating a mouthful of poprocks and drinking a glass of ice cold water.

I remember reading about an accident involving a diving bell and a decompression chamber where some divers were explosively decompressed from 9 atm to 1 atm. I think their bodies did literally explode, i.e. their limbs blown off and all their internal organs exploding, which doesn't sound like much fun at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byford_Dolphin :Q

 

[Schadenfroh]

Go to the chemistry lab and find something with a boiling point just above room temperature and then apply a massive suction to the top of it's test tube to drastically lower the air pressure. Something similar, but far worse will happen to your blood / body fluids in space.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Go to the chemistry lab and find something with a boiling point just above room temperature and then apply a massive suction to the top of it's test tube to drastically lower the air pressure. Something similar, but far worse will happen to your blood / body fluids in space.

/me goes off and grabs a bottle of HCL in solution.

....

*POP* Oh God! The goggles, they do nothing!

 

[bluefoam]

whatever happens... if he pushed you out... that leaves one arm tryin to hang on to something else... and his a$$ is grass too!!!

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Go to the chemistry lab and find something with a boiling point just above room temperature and then apply a massive suction to the top of it's test tube to drastically lower the air pressure. Something similar, but far worse will happen to your blood / body fluids in space.

Only a valid test if you have the fluid contained in a semi-flexible tube or somesuch. It's not like your blood is directly exposed to the atmosphere.

 

[tank171]

Not to mention that it is probably rather cold out there.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: tank171
Not to mention that it is probably rather cold out there.

But there is very little to transfer the heat off of you. Being in what is essentially vacuum, there won't be any gases or other matter that will absorb your body heat and transfer it away via conduction. The most immediate problem is going to be the lack of pressure.

 

[Nathelion]

True. You'll eventually freeze (I imagine the outermost layers of skin would develop frostbite almost immediately), but you'll die from decompression rather quickly.

 

[edcarman]

Originally posted by: Nathelion
True. You'll eventually freeze (I imagine the outermost layers of skin would develop frostbite almost immediately), but you'll die from decompression rather quickly.

Your corpse would eventually freeze (it's essentially radiating to almost 0 K), but in the time taken for you to die from asphyxiation, the thermal effects would be pretty mild.
Your initial radiation heat loss (508 W/m2) is equivalent to your heat loss when standing in a gentle breeze on a mild day (4 m/s and 20°C).
This assumes that you are naked (which may be why your "friend" threw you out in the first place). If you are wearing clothes, your heat loss will be less.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: QuantumPion
Even in worst case scenario of explosively opening the door to your space ship wouldn't cause immediate death, because the difference in pressure from the inside of the space ship (probably pressurized to something like that of the inside of a commercial airplane, ~0.75 atm) isn't a huge pressure differential. The worst that would happen would be if you were holding a deep breath, your lungs might rupture. You would become unconscious after 10 seconds, because the blood in your lungs exposed to a vacuum gives up all its air and it takes 10 seconds for this deoxygenated blood to reach your brain. While the water in your mouth would boil, it isn't as bad as it sounds. The moisture isn't hot like a pot of boiling water, it is just evaporating and cooling rapidly. I imagine the sensation would be like eating a mouthful of poprocks and drinking a glass of ice cold water.

I remember reading about an accident involving a diving bell and a decompression chamber where some divers were explosively decompressed from 9 atm to 1 atm. I think their bodies did literally explode, i.e. their limbs blown off and all their internal organs exploding, which doesn't sound like much fun at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byford_Dolphin :Q

Youch!

Diver D4 was shot out through the small jammed hatch door opening, and was ripped apart. Subsequent investigation by forensic pathologists determined that diver D4, being exposed to the highest pressure gradient, violently exploded due to the rapid and massive expansion of internal gases. All of his thoracic and abdominal organs, and even his thoracic spine were ejected, as were all of his limbs. Simultaneously, his remains were expelled with force through the narrow trunk opening left by the jammed chamber door, less than 60 centimeters (24 inches) in diameter. Fragments of his body were found scattered about the rig. One part was even found lying on the rig?s derrick, 10 meters directly above the chambers. His death was presumed to have been painless and instantaneous.

Normally, I'd never use a kid-esque expression like this, but "O'rly?" :Q

 

[Engraver]

Originally posted by: wwswimming
there's a scene in the movie "Total Recall" where Arnold Schwarz. & his partner in whatever
are cast out onto a sort of sand-dune, in a vacuum, just after they have activated the
"thing to create an atmosphere" (which is very big).

they do a little big of the eyeball bulging thing.

having your blood boil while it's in your body does not sound pleasant.

That was Mars, and it has an atmosphere, just not healthy for humans (approximately 95% CO2).


Arnold probably thought it was a tumor though...

 

[NikolaeVarius]

You'll be conscious for about 15 seconds, then you'll black out. Then you would die from a case of the bends, or hypoxia, etc..