How exactly do you die in space ? (if you didnt have an astronaut suit)?

Question

I heard some DISTURBING descriptions in the story, "The Cold Equations" by Tom Goodwin. but does anyone know EXACTLY? And also, wouldnt it be ....sort of like drowning? i mean , no air, you suffocate. so why does the nasty stuff w/ your organs happen or whatever? thanks. -Amber

i heard your eyes pop out and your organs come out of ur body!!!! how nasty...anyway...yea. why?

and also...what do u mean by bends?

Answer 1

Death in space could take a couple of minutes, depending on your physical condition, and the circumstances around the situation. Or it could be almost immediate.
1. You could suffocate from the lack of air - depending on your body's response you may live long enough for your lungs to fill up with fluid and you would basically drown (similar to high-mountain climbers without additional oxygen)
2. You could literally explode. If you are suddenly ejected into space, your internal blood pressure could be high enough to rupture the softer tissues in your body (your eyes, your nose, your ears) and you would bleed to death rather quickly
3. If you held your breath when you went into space and you didn't start hemorrhaging, you might live long enough to freeze to death (if you not in direct sunlight) or broil (if you are in direct sunlight).\
All in all, I'd rather be sailing.

Answer 2

You'd suffocate first (less than a minute). Since you couldn't hold air in your lungs in space you'd suffocate extreemly fast. The best comparison on earth is when people walk into a room with 100% Nitrogen or CO2. You loose conciesness in 10-15 seconds, and die within a minute.

It's true that the bends would also kill you (if you had a oxygen mask, etc), that would take 20-30 minutes.

You'd also eventually freeze, but that would take hours since there is no convection or conduction without air.

For all the people below who say you'd die due to lack of pressure, and space suits keep normal atmospheric pressure , that you'd blow up, etc. This is not true. Space suites DO NOT have normal atmospheric pressure inside of them. Astronauts go through a decompression chamber when they exit the space station to do a space walk and you body CAN adjust to no pressure (if done very slowly). A US space suit has only about 4 psi pressure inside (much much less than the atmosphere), and one reason we go so low is in case of failure, the astronaut will still survive at no pressure as long as he has oxygen.

When astronauts re-enter the space station, they must re-pressurize slowly. Even the space station is internal pressure is maintained much lower than earths normal atmopheric pressure.

Answer 3

Why do so few people even look at the information that's so easily available? If you made the transition gradually, had a SCUBA tank with an appropriate mix of gases, and took some of the precautions that mountain climbers take, you could do just fine in space without a suit. Keep watch for the first nude spacewalker! You wouldn't sunbathe for long, and you'd tend to lose a lot of heat and moisture through your skin. The smallest meteorite would pierce you like a bullet, with no atmosphere to burn it up. You'd be exposed to more ultraviolet, gamma, and other radiation, with no atmosphere to reduce it or magnetosphere to deflect it. It's not without risk, but not necessarily an instant catastrophe.

Answer 4

Forget all that dreadful nonsense you heard. You would die of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and lose consciousness quickly. Do you remember Payne Stewart, the golfer? He and five others died after the private jet they were in depressurized. They didn't explode, they just lost consciousness. Remember that atmospheric pressure is only 14.7 psi, and divers get the bends coming up from considerably more pressure. As you dive, it's about 1/2 psi extra per foot you go down. So diving to only thirty feet doubles the pressure you experience on the surface. Does it crush you? Apparently not; they go way deeper than that. 14.7 psi isn't all that much and removing it doesn't cause horrible things to happen, not before dropping off from lack of oxygen, anyway. And then you'd freeze dry and mummify.

Answer 5

Well first off you wouldn't last as log as if you were drowning. The vacuum of space would cause your lungs to deflate and your blood to boil (similar to the bends but much worse).You would die long before you suffocate. Suffocation would be an amusement park ride compared to being but in space without a suit.

Answer 6

in space there is no pressure. remember, that the reason we can live on the surface of the earth easily is because our bodies exert the same amount of pressure that our HUGE atmosphere exerts upon us. so take away the atmospheres pressure, and we would literally explode. like, our cells would burst. all of them. most likely, at once.

so you wouldnt really suffocate, because your lung cells wouldnt be intact. hence, the space suits...they keep our normal atmospheric pressures within the suit, and the absence of pressure outside the suit....then we can move about safely in space.

im almost positive this is what would happen. noone knows for sure, because noone has been in that environment: its too dangerous. itd be like suicide, because if you were there for an instant even, you have a chance of instantaneous death.

Answer 7

Well, your body is designed to counter the pressure of the earth's atmosphere, which means your body pushes out with the same pressure that the atmosphere exerts on it, otherwise your body would crush under the tremendous pressure. In space, there is no pressure, but your body still exerts a pressure outward, so your body will swell up. You'll die before you suffocate.

Answer 8

Well it depends on a few things. There need to be a bit more information here in order to correctly answer this question. First did this person just go from a 1 atmosphere to space? That immediate depressurization can have major consequences. If not did he slowly get depressurized. If that is the case it can cause additional problems. In order to correctly answer this question you need to be more specific as to the question you are asking in order to determine if you need to incorporate boyle's law's.

Answer 9

No air means suffication. The water in your body would turn to steam because of no pressure to hold it as a liquid and you'd shrivle up soon after.

Answer 10

you insides will burst.