in space do u die instantly or do u suffocate?

Answer 1

You sound like a man with a problem. Maybe a lot of problems. But this time the facts are on your side. There is such a thing as "explosive decompression," but that merely refers to the sudden loss of pressure in an air- or spacecraft, not the effect on the occupants. Though your chances of surviving such an experience are slim, your body would not explode (although see below). In fact, if you were able to scramble to safety quickly enough (as the helmetless astronaut did in the famous scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey), you might emerge virtually unscathed.

To be sure, there are a few troublemakers who will give Cecil an argument on this. Some flight surgeons at NASA, for instance, say death in a vacuum would be almost instantaneous. They offer the following Technicolor scenario: your blood would boil, your eyeballs would explode, and your lungs would turn to red slush.

But the medical literature suggests this view is exaggerated. For one thing, I have never seen anything indicating your eyeballs would explode (although your eardrumms might burst). It's true that in the absence of ambient pressure your blood and other bodily fluids would boil, in the sense that they would turn to vapor. But that's not as drastic as it sounds. Your soft tissues would swell markedly, but they'd return to normal if you were recompressed within a short time.

It's conceivable your lungs might rupture, since in a vacuum the air in them would greatly expand. But experience suggests this is rare even if decompression is extremely rapid. The chances are much greater if your windpipe is closed, making it impossible for the expanding air to escape.

Death would not be instantaneous. It's believed you'd have 10-15 seconds of "useful consciousness" and it'd be several minutes before you'd die. If you were rescued within that time there's a decent chance you'd survive. Research with chimps and monkeys suggests that if you were exposed to a virtual vacuum for less than 90-120 seconds you might not suffer any permanent damage.

That said, there are circumstances involving explosive decompression in which your body might be torn to bits. This would result not from the exposure to a vacuum per se but from injuries caused by the accompanying air blast. I have here a medical journal article about a case of explosive decompression that killed four divers. (They went from high pressure to normal rather than normal to vacuum, but same idea.)

The bodies of three of the dead men were outwardly normal. The fourth man, however, was forced through a narrow hatch by the rush of escaping air and his body, to be blunt, was reduced to pot roast. Naturally, the authors of the article felt obliged to include pictures, including a close-up of what was left of the face. You might show them to your bozo friends next time they're chattering about blown up bodies.

Answer 2

OOOPS--look out for that nail sticking out--AWWWWWW, too late, too bad!!

BOOM!!! Your internal bodily pressures would cause you to explode if your space suit were rent wide open from top to bottom in an instant.

If you only lost your helmet, all the air in your lungs would rush out and they would either collapse upward into misshapened masses or the blood would explode out of your capillaries in them and flood up into your throat and mouth--and, more likely, both processes would occur. You could clamp your hand over your mouth and nose, for example, to moderate between the two by accepting one and halting the next or by letting both occur since you know it's all over anyhow for you.

I'm not sure of how long you would last if your space suit minus a helmet is the situation but I suppose it would be about 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes.

None of the above is actually suffocating in a earthy sense. It's more deprivation.

Oh, and in the exploding scenario? You won't go flying off like some suddenly released inflated balloon. If that's any condolance for you.

Answer 3

Without the air pressure of being inside a space suit, you would for all means and purposes "explode." Suffocation is the least of your problems. Not a pretty picture.

Answer 4

I don't think you die instantly, because it's not like your brain is immediately blown away like a gunshot. Everything goes haywire - any dissolved gas in the blood, abdominal cavity, and elsewhere inflate instantly at the loss of pressure, causing excrutiating pain. Water begins to flash to vapor, which further inflates the body and every tissue and organ. I don't know how quickly death comes, but it could not possibly be fast enough. Ugh!

Answer 5

Wooaaa....
I think die in the space is the most suffocate one. You will loose your breath, than you wil start to feel a lot of pain in your lungs. Than you are started to halusinating about your family in the earth.

And than u strated to loose your conscious. And than u strated to dream. U call your mother, father , brother name... As if they were there...

U started to feel a terrible head-ache.... oaahhhh....

Than u act as having the skizofern...

Than u died in the very terrible way. U started to blown up like a ballon, because there are no oxygen. The blood is sweat up from your skins, and every holes in your body. oaaaaaaaa....

Than u died without any blood in your body...

TERRIBLE

Answer 6

You suffocate...sort of. Vacuum exposure is actually probably much, much more painful than regular suffocaction. You basically freeze, while your blood tries to squeeze out of every pore in your body. It's exactly the same as getting freeze-dried.

Answer 7

Space is very, very cold, even colder than Antarctica. A person could maybe hold their breath for 2 minutes if they really had to, but I believe you would freeze to death in about 30 seconds.

Answer 8

u die instantly of suffocating....

Answer 9

Think you would freeze instantly. The explosive decompression would probably be a close second.

Answer 10

I think your body would implode before you had a chance to suffocate..