Interesting Question: The Human Body Out In Space?

The bends, suffocation and a real bad sun burn.

Pop goes the weasel.

Right.

Well I really don't know but think about the fact that your body is pushing back on the atmosphere at ~14lbs per square inch over every square inch of your skin. If you suddenly release the hundreds of pounds of pressure pressing in on you, I have the sense that this constitutes a catastrophic event of the inflating kind. I'll go with pop goes the weasel.

Geostationary orbit is a long way off being in a vacuum ,but I don't know how elastic eye-balls are . Something will get you , but I don't think it's the fashion police or the Doug Quaid experience.

We may not notice it directly until we are de-pressurised, but our osmotic pressure inside the body is some 300 kg/cm when compared to absolute vacuum. We may call it millibar this or atmosphere that - at sea-level, but just try to reverse that pressure from inside-out, and - Pop!

I seem to remember Ripley in Alien opened a hatch to suck out an alien from her spaceship and she was just a little out of breath afterwards. Then again she is pretty tough.

Was just wondering why you would keep your boxers on anyway. All that would happen is you'd soil them at a very alarming rate then, if they float off to a distant galaxy where aliens find them with your name written inside, you'll go down in their history as mister smelly pants.

I would definetly go commando and get a bigger audience for my last dance.

MACA, you just bought me cheap.

May I invite you to my secret society?

Don't fall for it MACA , he may ask you to roll up a trouser leg and wait inside an ante-room that bears a striking resemblance to a pressure chamber. Remember the Baboon in the remake of The Fly (the end is the same as far as you need be concerned)

Kris, you goblin. I was just making friends with a newcomer who's style I dig. I thought science is all about the right kind of show-biz.

Was I wrong?

MACA , sign up ! It's the greatest show on earth . Engineering , Science , Humour galore. MACA's humour qualifies well , I will keep an eye out for postings (as I do for all) . I have to dash soon , so you may be goblin-free for a (brief) while.

Getting back to the initial question of bailing out of your spacecraft wearing only a pair of boxers.

First off if you aren't breathing out at the time you will rupture the alveoli in you lungs and this is normally fatal but lets for the time being assume that you knew to breath out throughout the entire decompression process.

The first problem you are going to face, as techno indicated, is the bends. Any dissolved gasses that are in the blood will come out of solution and form bubbles that will more than likely cause a massive heart attack and a stroke.

Next up water can't exist in a liquid state in a vacuum so off all the water that is in the blood vessels near the surface of your skin and in you lungs will vaporize and try and escape by tearing your skin and the alveoli in your lungs apart. On the sunward side of your body this vaporization of water will continue however on the shaded side you will quickly freeze.

The capillaries in your eyes would definitely burst and turn the whites of your eyes red. If you survived they would ultimately turn a horrible dark purple colour. The gas that is in solution inside your eyes will come out of solution but I doubt that this would actually cause a great enough pressure difference to rupture your eyeballs. Eyeballs are very tough but at any rate the water in your tears would turn to vapor.

If your Eustachian tubes remained open and clear for long enough your ear drums would not burst but the blood vessels in the ear drum and all through the middle ear would rupture and you would hemorrhage into the middle ear, ear canal and nose. Next the fluid in the inner ear would release the dissolved gasses and this would rupture the inner ear drum and cause it to drain into the middle ear.

So where are we now, the blood is full of bubbles that more than likely have stopped blood flowing to the brain and heart, you lungs have been ripped to shreds and are filling with blood, you are bleeding and loosing water through your skin, your ears, sense of balance are completely kaput, your eyes are bleeding and there are bubbles of gas floating around inside them plus you would have let rip with the biggest fart and have the worst case of diarrhea of all times. I'm not sure about the bladder and kidneys as the muscles here are somewhat stronger but it wouldn't be long before they vented themselves as well.

As the internal pressure dropped the water in your blood would vaporize and find some way of either exiting the body or solidifying due to the cold of space.

Ultimately you will end up as a burnt up freeze dried lump of fatty acids and various crystallized salts.

I don't know how long you would remain conscience but I would expect it would be pretty painful till the available oxygen in the blood dropped to a level that could either induce euphoria or unconsciousness.

Without a pressure suit the maximum altitude that a human being can tolerate is about 50,000 feet. Above that you just can't survive even if you are breathing pure oxygen and have something to keep you from freezing.

Masu, this was more than I could take in one go.

I'll look into it, sentence a-day, having my favourite drug at hand, just to keep me going.

Wow.

Have you ever stepped on one of those mushroom puff balls, and seen it explode into a cloud of "smoke"? I think that is what a human body would do if it were suddenly thrust into "total vacuum". Think of the pressure inside one's body that resists the atmosphereis pressure on Earth;s surface. Do you mean to tell me that no one has ever rigged an experiment with a mouse or similar, wherein the creature was contained inside a glass (or similar) structure, inside a large vacuum chamber, and the glass suddenly was broken, thrusting the creature into a near- absolute vacuum? I doubt that the next few seconds of the creature's life would be very pleasant to watch.

...Do you mean to tell me that no one has ever rigged an experiment with a mouse or similar...

They also said that there is no impregnation-barrier between man and a chimp, having 98% or more of a common DNA.

Do you mean to tell me that no one has ever rigged an experiment with a...

Well, maybe they did. Do you reckon they'd tell us about it?

Here's a thought . If a Coelacanth is trawled up why don't it's eyeballs explode ? - it dies slowly.

I'd say it's pretty much certain a lot of creatures have been on a one-way trip to a vacuum chamber - the results were just too nasty to show us all. When early space missions with animals were unable to return , just how did they die (I don't think there would be much hesitation to try one last experiment).

...I don't think there would be much hesitation to try one last experiment...

Hopefully not a collective one, straight from my nightmares

Things just slip out don't they !Boy do I feel

Yeah... I cannot hide my deepest fears, nor do I want to. After all, what the heck

me too - I meant I hadnt zipped up this morning and the metal chair gets kinda hot.

-A- was specific about geostationary orbit , which is not total vacuum . I'm sure your excellent description is right masu, but what is the relevant data for vapour pressure in the posited situation ?. This all reads a bit like one of those 'I told you so' Challenge Questions , which need nailing with numbers.

...plus the contents of the alimentary canal would expand...

.... and we'd all be talking....

Back to work I think.

I'd be willing to try it for fifty bucks!

hey no fair

your parents were aliens

just waiting to be abducted

Strappin' big young uns eah ? ( You lead me to one of the funniest things I've read on cr4 ) Near spliced me mainbrace .

This is what I could find on-line.

Explosive decompression: Misunderstandings of the meaning of the words are quite likely to be a fueling factor for a persistent myth that humans would explode if exposed to the non-pressure of space. Accidents in space exploration research and high-altitude aviation have shown that while vacuum exposure causes swelling, human skin is tough enough to handle a drop of one atm. A sudden drop of eight atm in the Byford Dolphin accident had intensely fatal results.

If I understand what has been researched so far, it looks like our space walker would pass out after about 14 seconds, however he could "live" up to two minutes on the outside before being permanently killed by the lack of o₂. With the proviso that we are still talking about a 1 bar drop. I don't think I'll sleep tonight after reading about the 8 bar drop accident.

-A-

An expert opinion (because they did it once):

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970603.html

That is right in line with what I had understood. It seems the first answer was the best. the bends and a sunburn. still, it doesn't sound fun.

-A-

Let me see if I understand what you suggest here:

...he could "live" up to two minutes on the outside before being permanently killed by the lack of o₂... in space, right?

According to your description and my understanding, the poor creature Will outlive his fragmented body by two minutes, and only then "permanently" killed, only because of the lack of o₂, as opposed to my own, or common understanding, that he would first explode and die simultaneously, by the lack of functioning organs, and only then miss some o₂ or air for that matter, as if...

Hmmm...

Wiki calls it "Fallacies", as you quoted (you didn't have to copy their links we know what urban legend and humans are), but at least allow me to protest here, dear wiki, this sounds ridiculous

I guess they followed the assumption that since a human with his mouth and rear-end exposed to the environment, cannot decompress, allow me to take this opportunity to remind you that the rest of him is enclosed indeed, quite hermetically, and may indeed explosively decompress.

Is it heresy to disagree with the holy wiki?

I am not the expert. however, according to NASA in a post from mr. bhankiii:

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970603.html

as follows:

"Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly some [mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue) start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes, you're dying. The limits are not really known.

You do not explode and your blood does not boil because of the containing effect of your skin and circulatory system. You do not instantly freeze because, although the space environment is typically very cold, heat does not transfer away from a body quickly. Loss of consciousness occurs only after the body has depleted the supply of oxygen in the blood. If your skin is exposed to direct sunlight without any protection from its intense ultraviolet radiation, you can get a very bad sunburn."

-A-

as to anyone's "common understanding." much of the world's "common understanding" is commonly wrong. I have found this to be true for all of human history.

question everything.

-A-

At you suggestion I followed bhankiii's link, ,only to find there another link which turns the story, and somewhat shifts the earlier mentioned consequences:

...There will be virtually no effective circulation of blood. After an initial rush of gas from the lungs during decompression, gas and water vapor will continue to flow outward through the airways. This continual evaporation of water will cool the mouth and nose to near-freezing temperatures...Note that this discussion covers the effect of vacuum exposure only...The decompression event itself can have disasterous effects if the person being decompressed makes the mistake of trying to hold his or her breath. This will result in rupturing of the lungs, with almost certainly fatal results. There is a good reason that it is called "explosive" decompression...

With the author, Geoffrey A. Landis, being both scientist and science-fiction writer, I was now even more troubled than before taken to this quote. Could the fact that sea-level pressurised hermetically enclosed organs of the human body, to negate their "explosive" potential, only by the fact of the digestive system opened at both ends, escaped him?

I wonder.

Can anyone satisfy this doubt here, if only to clarify? what is it, which allows the inner, sealed, organs to escape explosion? Elasticity of skin and tissue? To what degree can this go on until explosion is inevitable? Or is it? Will it inflate forever? What?

Interesting post. I think, in the end, complete exposure of a body to outser space is sort of like the man falling from 5,000 feet when his parachute doesn't open. It doesn't matter whether its the fall that kills him, or the sudden stop. The end result is the same!

Following links to exreme becomes like a cartoon I saw once. The caption was " Your problem is obvious " , and the picture was of a man in a yoga type contortion with his head up his own arse.

I think the lesson may be 'enjoy the contortion , but don't expect too much of the end result'.

I don't know. Somehow, I cannot vision 300 kg/scm forcing out of man's sealed tissues without the explosive effect, no-matter-what the honorable Geoffrey A. Landis may try to convince, or the wiki bible may preach according to his wishful thinking.

Something inside just wouldn't take it hands-down. You may consider it 'taken for granted' because wiki said so, especially when we're comforted by -A- that, yes, the poor astronaut would die anyway although not kept intact, but I wouldn't. You may condemn or ridicule me all you like. It wouldn't wash.

If you want to convince me otherwise, you're welcome: either show me a reliable experiment, or answer my doubts. I cannot see other way to confront some nonsense just be it coming from someone in NASA. Sorry. With all due respect, It doesn't wash.

True, my problem is obvious.

I don't think I referred to Wiki - Even I am not so mad as to trust a resource like that. My final verdict on the 'exploding man' is not fixed . I am just argumentative.

I would never ridicule you Yuval , especially since my current vision has you positioned 'hands-down ' - and I'm sure you're not facing mecca.

The facts on this will be argued ad-infinitum until a volunteer is found for the test. When my time comes , you may nominate my corpse .I will not complain.

...until a volunteer is found for the test...

Not only this can be easily simulated with plastics or kadabras, I think it should be done, if only to stop this silly notion, not to mention it is seriously long overdue, ever since the mid sixties.

As if no one ever cared of the outcome, or as if it is evidently clear, that the astronaut will survive for two minutes completely dismembered. You pick your favorite.

Or as with the otherwise mentioned chimp-man issue, no one dared to let us know.

Do you mean cadavars ? If so , I agree it shoud be tried. It would be the most watched clip on Utube that's for sure.

If and when proven wrong, I will be surprised, but will humbly stand corrected.

Let me make sure I have this clear Yuval. You favour the spectacular explosive result of sudden ejection into space at geostationary orbit height , yes ?

I imagine a slower less spectacular death , resulting in a stream of bodily fluids leaving it's orifices (causing the body to move like an out out of control jet powered something or other ).Some degree of bloating is expected.

I shall need to humbly sit whilst corrected as I will be laughing too much to stand either way.

What's clear in advance is this: fluids at sea-level are likely to evaporate and thus expand ,in vacuum, although dependent on temperature, to the expansion. Gases, in general, the same, only more violently so.

Don't confuse those with liquids and gases floating about in "zero"gravity, yet, within pressurised cabins

My "favor" to the explosive has to do with those liquids and gases sealed, confined in porous tissues within.

...Some degree of bloating is expected... Right, again, forever? while still alive?

HMMM ... I do not agree with you: intact skin will not prevent blood from boiling: ask what happens to divers when they do not decompress while ascending to surface!

...permanently killed...

Is there any other way?

It may be an allusion to the finer points of what death is - brain death can mean different things to different people. I am certainly beginning to feel some form of it.

same here. I believe the question has been sufficiently addressed, and I am now ready to get back to work.

thanks to all,

-A-

Just a couple of things to add.

The NASA data talks about what happens when the body is contained within a tightly fitting pressure suit that prevents the expansion of the soft tissue. We were talking about a victim in a pair of boxer shorts, so we need to extend what is happening in the lungs and mouth to the rest of the body.

There is another thing that may cause you to expire extremely rapidly and that is the formation of a bubble in the arteries supplying blood to the brain. Depending on exactly where and how large the bubbles of gas that form when the body decompresses, loss of consciousness and irreparable brain damage could be almost instantaneous. This is pretty much the luck of the draw and I don't think there is any way to reliably predict what will happen on this front. The damage may be to an area of the brain that is not important and cause relative little change, but, it may be to a critical area and cause death instantly.

Finally there may be some problems with the eyes as the pressure drops. The tears will certainly boil in the same way the saliva in mouth did and there will certainly be bubbles of gas forming within the fluid in the eye. The capillaries on the surface of the eyes where they are exposed to the vacuum may also rupture.

I have had personal experience with the capillaries in the whites of the eyes rupturing. I had been free diving to depths of about 10 m and without thinking flew in a commercial aircraft the same day. Free driving is different to SCUBA diving in that the pressure in the mask, ears, respiratory tract and sinus cavities are not equalized with the water pressure by the SCUBA regulating valve. As a result the mask is pressed against the face and the sinus cavities, ears and respiratory tracts are squeezed by the surrounding water. This can damage the tiny capillaries in these areas and the damage may not be immediately visible, but rather, weaken them and make them more susceptible to later injury.

The cabin pressure of an airliner is kept at a pressure equivalent of about 8,000 to 10,000 feet and unfortunately this pressure drop was enough to cause the damaged capillaries in my sinuses and the whites of my eyes to rupture. Whilst this is not terribly painful it can be somewhat messy and disconcerting to fellow passengers. The part where the whites of your eyes turn a delightful shade of blood red seem to be the most disturbing, but it gets worse, because over the next few hours they go from red to a delightful shade of purple. Fortunately for me there was no permanent damage and everything settled down but it did mean wearing dark glasses at all times, to prevent anybody that you were talking to from freaking out. It did have one advantage though, if you ever wanted to get out of a conversation with some dimwit that was really boring you to death, taking the dark glasses of would cause a complete cessation in the drivel and a hasty exit of the dimwit.

Whilst the total pressure difference here is greater than you would have with complete depressurization, it did happen over several hours, so I have the feeling that you eyes would most likely suffer similar damage.

"The part where the whites of your eyes turn a delightful shade of blood red seem to be the most disturbing, but it gets worse, because over the next few hours they go from red to a delightful shade of purple. Fortunately for me there was no permanent damage and everything settled down but it did mean wearing dark glasses at all times, to prevent anybody that ..."

That would explain your avatar...

Depending on exactly where and how large the bubbles of gas that form when the body decompresses, loss of consciousness and irreparable brain damage could be almost instantaneous

If my understanding is correct , the body has evolved so that blood pressure relies on pressure from the pump (heart ) and one way valves being arranged optimally for a person subject to gravity . In a weightless orbit , fluid tend to accumulate in the upper body and more specifically the head . An air bubble would seem more likely to occur in the brain (rather than migrating from elsewhere) so brain death would be fairly rapid. The remaining grey jelly would become freeze dried.

Kris, allow me to remind that gravity is not the main issue here, but rather vacuum instead

Lack of gravity will influence the body, but in a whole lot of other ways than vacuum, e.g, deterioration of bone mass, heart and muscle efficiency, etc.

I was pointing out that blood (and hence dissolved gasses ) would be found more abundantly in the upper body in space (compared to Earth). I admit boiling blood is not the only explosion risk , but the change in it's location has some bearing on where your body may start to boil with most damage.

To be honest here, I don't much think of the situation in terms of "live or die and how", as much as in: "osmotic pressure in vacuum, involving sealed bags with fluids", etc...

The answer to all of this can be found by asking those who come from outer space. Because I deleted Donnatella Versaces phone number form my mobile I can't ask her but my boss assures me that delicate human bodies were not designed for naked space travel. Boxer shorts will not help either and if the vacuum of space is colder than the North Sea I can tell you that no matter how tough you think you are, you would still be a smaller man than when you went in. So it probably doesn't matter what happens to your lungs, eyes etc, you would still be singing like a castrato if you survived your zero pressure streak.

singing like a castrato

The tune of football fans , "I'm forever blowing bubble " maybe ?

(or is that Jacko's new tune )