Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re:  "moon 44" (was re: anothe
From: alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz (Ross Smith)
Date: 3 Jan 93 14:04:55 GMT+12
Distribution: world
Organization: Muppet Labs

In article <6264@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at> mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at (Markus Stumptner) writes:
>From article <199228.2756.2648@dosgate>, by robert.winkler@canrem.com (robert winkler):
>
>> Oh, & what DOES happen to the human body in sudden vacum? I know they
>> don't explode, but what do they do?
>
>I don't know if this was ever tried even with laboratory animals, but
>in terms of purely mechanical damage, I'd say not much, since the
>pressure differential between sea level and vacuum is not that high.
>I don't know what a brief exposure to vacuum would do to your lungs
>and eyes.  Your eardrums might rupture, and you would certainly get
>the bends (divers' sickness, or whatever it's called), which, unless
>pressure was quickly restored, would slowly kill you (but of course,
>suffocation would be faster).

From this group's FAQ :

>14. In OUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL, astronauts exposed to vacuum
>    promptly explode.  In 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a few seconds' exposure
>    to vacuum doesn't bother one at all.  Which is right?
>
>This hasn't occurred in real life, but there have been experiments where
>animals, or parts of a person's body, were exposed to vacuum; these
>experiments happened before any of these films were made.  2001 was right;
>OUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL ignored the known facts.  A full discussion of
>this can be found in the sci.space FAQL.

and from the sci.space FAQ :

>    HOW LONG CAN A HUMAN LIVE UNPROTECTED IN SPACE
>
>    If you *don't* try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a
>    minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your
>    breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to
>    watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if your
>    Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and animal
>    experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no
>    immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You do
>    not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.
>
>    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.
>
>    References:
>
>    _The Effect on the Chimpanzee of Rapid Decompression to a Near Vacuum_,
>    Alfred G. Koestler ed., NASA CR-329 (Nov 1965).
>
>    _Experimental Animal Decompression to a Near Vacuum Environment_, R.W.
>    Bancroft, J.E. Dunn, eds, Report SAM-TR-65-48 (June 1965), USAF School
>    of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas.

--
...... Ross Smith (Wanganui, NZ) ...... alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz ......

"I blame you for the moonlit sky and the dream that died with the Eagle's flight
I blame you for the moonlit nights when I wonder why are the seas still dry
Don't blame me, sleeping satellite"                              (Tasmin Archer)

--