What happens if you expose your naked body in space?

Question

I've heard that you freeze, or boil, or ripped apart, or nothing happens at all. Would the low tempreture counteract the effects of the negative pressure?

Answer 1

Hi, I love this question. I believe you would freeze. I doubt the low tempreture would counteract the effects of the negative pressure. Its a possibility that a rapid and unconrolled exposure to no gravity would rupture your organs and your skin would rip. I love this question!

Answer 2

Answer:

1.) Naked unprotected flesh of an Earthling is normally accustomed to 14 Pounds of pressure pushing against it all the time. So the insides of your body push back against that pressure with an equal 14 pounds of pressure. If you remove the external pressure of the atmosphere by jumping out into space, your internal organs would instantly expand out of the most convenient openings and burst open.

2.) Earthlings are accustomed to mild temperatures on the order of say 60 to 90 degrees F (without clothing). In space the temperature is Zero degrees, but I forget which scale that is measured on. In any event, it is very, very cold. As a result you would freeze rather quickly.

3.) With no atmosphere in space, you would be unable to breathe. This inability to breathe would be added onto the explosion of your body, and eventual freezing.

4.) Our bodies are protected from the harmful effects of solar radiation by our atmosphere. If you went out beyond our atmosphere, you would shed that protective screen and subject yourself to very heavy doses of UV, X Ray, and Gamma Rays from the Sun. So, over time your body would fry in all of that radiation.

5.) Low temperature does not counter act negative pressure.

6.) As you can see, the "nothing happens at all" response is far from correct.

Answer 3

You do not freeze instantly. There is nothing to conduct the heat TO. Additionally, you do not explode. Human skin is far too strong to be ripped open by the meager pressures generated by dissolved gas coming out of your blood.

Here's what actually happens if you were tossed out an airlock into deep space:

If you try to hold your breath, you'll end up with several holes ripped in your lungs, and you'll almost certainly die even if you're brought back into your spaceship immediately.

If you let all the air out of your lungs, they will collapse harmlessly. However, any blood passing through your lungs after this point will be almost totally devoid of oxygen. Since it takes about 14 seconds for blood from your lungs to reach your brain, you have about 14 seconds of consciousness. After that time, you will immediately lose consciousness.

At this point, if someone brought you back into the spaceship, you could be revived with barely any side effects at all. However, if they left you out there longer, the zero pressure environment would begin evaporating water off your exposed mucus membranes (eyes, nose, mouth) leading to rapid evaporative cooling. If you were left out there for 1 minute, you might sustain frostbite on your eyes or nasal passages. It is possible that you could be revived, especially if you had a hyperbaric chamber ready.

If you were left out indefinitely, your eyes, nose, and throat would freeze from the evaporative cooling as your brain died of oxygen starvation, and then the ice would sublimate from solid to gas phase. Eventually, all the water/ice would evaporate out of your body, and you'd have a freeze-dried human.

Recap: You do not freeze instantly. You do not explode. Your head does not swell up like Schwarzenegger in Total Recall. You simply lose consciousness after 14 seconds, then slowly freeze-dry.

An astronaut had an accident with his suit in a training exercise in NASA's vacuum chamber. After he was revived (with no lasting injuries), he said the last thing he remembered before passing out was his saliva boiling in his mouth (at body temperature, of course).

Answer 4

Since blood cannot exist in a liquid state at very low pressures, it will boil. Your body can withstand depressurization for maybe a minute, then there will be a breakdown at a point where your blood has a large concentration of blood. Assuming you are a teenage male who thinks about sex every thirty seconds, that means your penis will explode.

Answer 5

Well, you'd die pretty quickly; the blood vessels in your lungs & nose would burst, and you'd get a frothy bloody mess out your nose & mouth. The blood in your veins would boil, and I think it would be a very painful way to die.
The body, however, doesn't have enough internal pressure to explode - its' not like in that movie "Outland".... you'd be puffy, but that's about it. Then, depending on if you were close enough to the sun or in shadow, you'd freeze or de-hydrate.... I wouldn't want to have to find you.

Answer 6

yes, nothing serious happens for few seconds unless you hold your breath. Vaccumm doesn't cause the body to explode. deoxygenated blood would reach the brain and the subject will passout. Then the body fluids will evaporate I guess.

Answer 7

You'd freeze dry and decompress simotenaously! Unpleasant!

Answer 8

no, pressure and temp do not interact. You will simply instantly freeze to death, not painful, but instant. Your blood will not boil, because it will freeze instatly.

Answer 9

You dont explode, you freeze dry to death.

Answer 10

Sudden death.