do bodies explode in a vacuum?

[gnoriac]

If you didn't croak from lack of air wouldn't you be suffering from a serious dose of the 'Bends' or its equivalent?

 

[toggle]

Oh cool. But it would still be at body temp... So would just feel like really fast evaporation? & Would leave your tongue a bit cold?

probably

 

[Jazzz]

If it's in space the absolute zero cold would kill one damn quick.

Vacuums are also the best insulation (thermos flask)

edited: not sure if a perfect vacuum has a temperature.

 

[Jazzz]

I don't really understand why your saliva would boil? Is it cause it would kind of evaporate? Isn't it meant to be cold in a vacuum?

Boiling points drop as pressure does, hence water will boil at much less than 100 degrees Centigrade on top of Mt. Everest. The tendency is to accommodate the change taking place (i.e. there's all this space to fill, so liquids become gas more readily - Le Chatalier's principle).

 

[camouflage]

Apparently not:

You wouldn't want to hold your breath. This would cause lung damage. You would probably remain conscious for several seconds, until the blood without oxygen reaches your brain.
It would be pretty darn cold, but the human body doesn't lose heat that fast, so you'd have a little time before you froze to death. It's possible you could have some problems with your eardrums, including a rupture, but maybe not. It would be worse if you had a cold, and were stuffy headed, with no way for the pressure to equalize.

You could get a bad sunburn, and you might actually swell some, but not to Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Total Recall" proportions. The "bends" are also possible, just like a diver who surfaces too quickly.

While your own normal blood pressure will keep your blood from boiling, the saliva in your mouth could very well begin to do so. In 1965, while performing tests at the NASA facility now known as Johnson Space Center a subject was accidentally exposed to a near vacuum (less than 1 psi) when his space suit leaked while in a vacuum chamber. He did not pass out for about 14 seconds, by which time unoxygenated blood had reached his brain. Technicians began to repressurize the chamber within 15 seconds and he regained consciousness at around the equivalent of 15,000 feet of altitude. He later said that his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil.

The human body is amazingly resilient. The worst problem would be lack of oxygen, not lack of pressure in the vacuum. If returned to a normal atmosphere fairly quickly, you would survive with few if any irreversible injuries.

There have actually been cases of parts of astronauts bodies being exposed to vacuum, when suits were damaged. The results were negligible.

(Obviously I copied and pasted lol)

There's a scene in Event Horizon IIRC that was actually plausable in that case, but it happened in the upper atmosphere of one of the ice-giants though (Neptune or Uranus) so I guess that doesn't quite count as absolute vacuum.

 

[Combustible]

If it's in space the absolute zero cold would kill one damn quick.

Not necessarily. I don't see how you can really talk about it being absolute zero if there is no matter. The reason why something feels cold at low temperatures when you touch it because you rapidly transfer heat from yourself to the colder body. The only way you could lose energy in space would be through radiating it. I don't know how rapidly that would kill you but it wouldn't be like touching something at absolute zero.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

If you are in space and are not in a pressurised capsule or space suit your blood will immediately boil and come out of every orifice. I saw this on a Royal Society lecture in a year 7 science lesson.

 

[bigben]

If you are in space and are not in a pressurised capsule or space suit your blood will immediately boil and come out of every orifice. I saw this on a Royal Society lecture in a year 7 science lesson.

I thought space was absolute zero... why does your blood boil I would have thought it would frozen. Or something.

 

[longdog]

I thought space was absolute zero... why does your blood boil I would have thought it would frozen. Or something.

Space isn't absolute zero as there is always radiant heat and although it is extremely low by the standards of what man can achieve in a laboratory it's not a perfect vacuum either.

Another point to consider is the fact that although space is very cold the fact that it is so empty (two atoms per cubic metre rings a bell) means there is no real mechanism for the body to lose heat through conduction as there is nothing for the heat to conduct to. The body will lose heat by radiation but it will be a slow process relatively speaking.

 

[The Groke]

why someone would want to put a penis into a vagina

I'm keen to know your answer to this one.

 

[golightly]

A spot of empirical research is pretty useful for questions like that one I've always found.

 

[FaradayCaged]

i always thought that the human body would eventualy implode if exposed to a complete vacuum for long enough?

 

[toggle]

A spot of empirical research is pretty useful for questions like that one I've always found.

not for a 10 year old it isn't.....

 

[FaradayCaged]

There's a scene in Event Horizon IIRC that was actually plausable in that case, but it happened in the upper atmosphere of one of the ice-giants though (Neptune or Uranus) so I guess that doesn't quite count as absolute vacuum.

yeah i wondered how that was plausible, i always put it down to the fact it was a film, meh

 

[fractionMan]

If it's in space the absolute zero cold would kill one damn quick.

aparently this isn't quite true either. There's nowhere for the heat to leak to so it takes ages for the body to cool down.

eta: seventh!

 

[golightly]

not for a 10 year old it isn't.....

They'll just have to wait then.

e2a: I think that Swarfega may be old enough to carry out his own research I'd imagine.

 

[stdPikachu]

If it's in space the absolute zero cold would kill one damn quick.

Nope. A vaccuum is an exceptionally good insualtor of heat, and it'd take weeks for your body to freeze through completely - it would only be able to lose heat by infra-red radiation. Remember that heat is generally just a product of energy + mass, the less mass you have in a given medium, the lower your ability to conduct heat.

As an aside, this is why sticking your hand in boiling water hurts, but having it showered with burning iron (e.g. sparks from an angle grinder are usually somewhere around 3000degC) is almost unnoticeable.

e2a: damnit, took too long to reply to this one.

 

[fogbat]

Susan something, I think...

 

[goldenecitrone]

Susan something, I think...

Stranks. Gone far since her Incey Wincey Spider days.

 

[MikeMcc]

Arthur C Clarke did a short story about a rescue when a pressurised capsule became seperated from a space station. It covered most of the points mentioned.

 

[The Groke]

They'll just have to wait then.

e2a: I think that Swarfega may be old enough to carry out his own research I'd imagine.

Looking for volunteers......

 

[toggle]

Arthur C Clarke did a short story about a rescue when a pressurised capsule became seperated from a space station. It covered most of the points mentioned.

any idea what it is called, or what collction it was in? I may have it somewhere here.