What exactly is explosive decompression?

Question

Ok so if im in a 747 or whatever and the plane undergoes explosive decompression, what would i see happen in the cabin? What would i experience? This is in regards to China airlines flight 611 which broke up in mid air. Just wondering what it was like for those passengers on that plane ... did everything just all of a sudden go to pieces? Please explain in detail.

Answer 1

In a rapid decompression (RD) what one hears is a huge bang, followed by mist and dust. Contrary to what Hollywood believes, you won't get sucked out a small hole, though if the breach is large enough, and you aren't strapped in-you could be sucked out (like the Flight Attendant in the Hawaiian Airlines RD a few years back).
At altitude, say FL 300 or above, one only has maybe 30-40 seconds of useful consciousness-that's why the stress on "if you see the mask, put it on and do yours first before you help others". The good news, if one can call it that, in this instance was most of the crew/passengers probably lost consciousness and never knew what hit them.

Answer 2

The phrase “explosive decompression” indicates that all the pressure is released more or less at once. If there were a small hole the size of a bullet, the crew would get an automatic alarm signal and try to make the repair before fatal decompression. With a hole that size, it would take several minutes before low pressure would incapacitate the crew. If an astronaut blocked the hole with his body, the air flow would be stopped, although it would be painful (a bullet sized hole would not allow him to be sucked out). Water is not a liquid at zero pressure. If water ice were warmed in zero pressure it would sublimate, that is change directly from a solid to a gas. If there were complete decompression, the crew would die nearly instantly. The blood and other fluids in their bodies would change to a gas immediately. As it does this, the fluids would actually be boiling. But the blood temperature has not changed, the boiling temperature has. If the crew did not explode, every cell in their bodies would still rupture as the gas expands. Death would be swift.

Answer 3

It would be over so fast you wouldn't know what happened. All you might know if your still unlucky enough to be alive is that you and the wreckage of your plane are dropping like a rock then it's lights out. Another case was a Hawaiian airlines flight the whole roof came off and a stewardess was sucked out. But the plane made it to Hawaii. Everyone survived they suffered from exposure to extreme cold and wounds from flying metal. They also suffered from lack of oxygen for a few minutes as the plane got to a lower altitude. To give you some idea of how fast things fly around in the cabin during a massive decompression the imprint of a coin was found embedded in a frame of a plane that decompressed. that would be a very definite ouch if it hit you.

Answer 4

Explosive decompression is a drop in cabin pressure faster than your lungs can decompress, less than half a second. When this happens there is generally said to include a big bang, lots of debris flying around, condensation forming inside the aircraft, and the air temp. will drop to frostbite temperatures.

Check this out for more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_pressurization

Answer 5

Jim you have most of that right. But don't forget your ears pop. You belch and fart uncontrollably if you don't know its coming. RD=fun. Your eyes I think also give you some slight blurring for a few seconds.. It has been a while for me. But no Hollywood special effects nonsense. The big problem is if this happens to you.. you are probably at an altitude where you will go hypoxia in a matter of seconds. That happened over Greece not to long ago didn't it. They found all of the bodies frozen?

Answer 6

This happened to my mother-in-law while she was on a flight. She is very fat and cut wind on the plane while it was at 41,000 feet. The sudden expulsion of flatuent gas created high pressure in the cabin thereby forcing the emergency exits open. There were some casualties on board, but most due to inhaling the toxic gas waste. But really, if someone says you can be sucked out, forget it. It's all a bunch of BUNK!!!! They did an experiment on the Discovery Channel Mythbusters and they unanimously busted that myth. If you were in outerspace, completely void of any aimosephere at all, yes it MAY be possible. But the decompession would be so quick, about the only thing flying out of the cabin would be small articles and some of them may be big enough to plug a hole. THINK ABOUT IT, that's all I am asking before you vote on best answer. Thanks.

Answer 7

You all almost have it. You wouldn't see anything though. As others have stated about the bang, mist, etc, all true. But it happens so fast that your lungs don't have time to equalize, your ear drums rupture, and the most important part, the oxygen in your blood comes out of solution. Basically, your blood appears to boil. It happens so fast, that you would litterally not see anything else happen, as you'd allready be unconscious, or dead with in the first half second or so.