[thedoc (OP)]

Ahmed Youssef  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hello, excellent show... I'm an addict.

I have a theoretical question about being exposed to outer space. If a person were to be instantly exposed to outer space, perhaps something like an astronaut opening his/her space suit while floating outside their vehicle, would the person explode first due to the lack of air pressure, or freeze first because of the lack of heat?

Thanks,

Ahmed

What do you think?

[Æthelwulf]

Yes, the body would not hold up to the pressure... all the soft parts of your internal body would be squeezed out of the dermeological shell we call our protective skin.

Not a nice thought at all.

[syhprum]

Accidents have happened and animal tests have been made, no one bursts although they lose conscious pretty quickly due to loss of Oxygen.
all those accidently exposed survived. 

[Æthelwulf]

Accidents have happened and animal tests have been made, no one bursts although they lose conscious pretty quickly due to loss of Oxygen.
all those accidently exposed survived.

May we have some links?

[syhprum]

Here is an easily found one

http://www.geoffreylandis.com/vacuum.html

[yor_on]

Hah, seem to remember having a discussion somewhere, though I don't remember where or with whom.


"A few recent Hollywood films showed people instantly freezing solid when exposed to vacuum. In one of these, the scientist character mentioned that the temperature was "minus 273"-- that is, absolute zero.

But in a practical sense, space doesn't really have a temperature-- you can't measure a temperature on a vacuum, something that isn't there. The residual molecules that do exist aren't enough to have much of any effect. Space isn't "cold," it isn't "hot", it really isn't anything.

What space is, though, is a very good insulator. (In fact, vacuum is the secret behind thermos bottles.) Astronauts tend to have more problem with overheating than keeping warm.

If you were exposed to space without a spacesuit, your skin would most feel slightly cool, due to water evaporating off you skin, leading to a small amount of evaporative cooling.

But you wouldn't freeze solid!"

Vacuum a isolator?

Yep.

Nice link

[JP]

As far as Hollywood films go, 2001 was pretty accurate: