If i stepped into a perfect vacuum what would happen to me?

Question

Im making the assumption that a vacuum is the perfect example of 'nothing', 'nothingness' if you will. Is this correct? And if so, what is nothing, and how would it affect me if I stepped into it? Would I literally implode into a thousand pieces within milliseconds. Would I burst into flames?

Answer 1

If you don't try to hold your breath, exposure to the vacuum of 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.

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.

At NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (now renamed Johnson Space Center) we had a test subject accidentally exposed to a near vacuum (less than 1 psi) in an incident involving a leaking space suit in a vacuum chamber back in '65. He remained conscious for about 14 seconds, which is about the time it takes for O2 deprived blood to go from the lungs to the brain. The suit probably did not reach a hard vacuum, and we began repressurizing the chamber within 15 seconds. The subject regained consciousness at around 15,000 feet equivalent altitude. The subject later reported that he could feel and hear the air leaking out, and his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil.

Aviation Week and Space Technology (02/13/95) printed a letter by Leonard Gordon which reported another vacuum-packed anecdote:

"The experiment of exposing an unpressurized hand to near vacuum for a significant time while the pilot went about his business occurred in real life on Aug. 16, 1960. Joe Kittinger, during his ascent to 102,800 ft (19.5 miles) in an open gondola, lost pressurization of his right hand. He decided to continue the mission, and the hand became painful and useless as you would expect. However, once back to lower altitudes following his record-breaking parachute jump, the hand returned to normal."

Answer 2

Humans exposed to vacuum will lose consciousness after a few seconds and will die within minutes from asphyxiation, but the symptoms are not nearly as graphic as commonly shown in pop culture. Robert Boyle was the first to show that vacuum was lethal to small animals. Blood and other body fluids do boil (the medical term for this condition is known as ebullism) and the vapour pressure may be expected to bloat the body to twice its normal size and slow down circulation, but tissues are elastic and porous enough to prevent rupture. Ebullism is slowed by the pressure containment of blood vessels, so some blood remains liquid. Swelling and ebullism can be reduced by containment in a flight suit. Shuttle astronauts wear a fitted elastic garment called the Crew Altitude Protection Suit (CAPS) which prevents ebullism at vacuums of 15 Torr (2 kPa). However, even if ebullism is prevented, simple evaporation can cause the bends and gas embolisms. Rapid evaporation cooling of the skin will create frost, particularly in the mouth, but this is not a significant hazard.

Animal experiments show that rapid complete recovery is the norm for exposures of less than 90 seconds, while longer full body exposures are fatal and resuscitation has never succeeded. There are limited data available from human accidents, but they are consistent with animal data. Limbs may be exposed for much longer if breathing is not impaired. Rapid decompression can be much more dangerous than the vacuum exposure. If the victim holds his breath during decompression, the delicate internal structures of the lungs can be ruptured, causing death. Eardrums may be ruptured by rapid decompression, soft tissues may bruise and seep blood, and the stress of surprise will accelerate oxygen consumption leading to asphyxiation.

During World War II, the Nazi regime tortured concentration camp prisoners by exposing them to simulated high altitude conditions. See Nazi human experimentation.

Some extremophile microrganisms can survive vacuum for a period of years, as can the Tardigrade.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Since your body depends on atmospheric pressure to remain intact, stepping into a vaccum would have the same effect as being ejected into space... your body would "decompress". The technical term for this is "embolize", if I'm not mistaken.

The movie "Mission to Mars" has a very good scene that demonstrates this, when the character Woddy removes his helmet in space.

Answer 5

Your body would burst from the skin, sort of exploding. This is because there wouldn't be any pressure on your body from the air, so there wouldn't be anything compressing it in. Normally we have about 14 pounds per square inch pressing on our bodies at all times.

Answer 6

Once the percentage of oxygen drops below about 6% you die as though you have been shot, so unless you had on a scuba tank you would die. Lots of nasty things would happen to your body but I don't think you would be conscious to know about it.

Answer 7

The air would burst out of your lungs,nitrogen would begin to bubble up into your joints then everything would go downhill from there,but you would not know it!

Answer 8

You would die without air.
Better watch out.
Why this in astronomy and space?

Answer 9

being that a vaccum is a lack of air, if you "stepped" into one i think you would suffocate instantly....i think

Answer 10

you would explode, not implode