If I float in space naked, what will be the consequence for my wellbeing? What will happen to my skin? What will happen to my body due to the zero pressure surrounding me? Will the air be sucked from my lungs? Will my blood stream out of my poors, after having destroyed my capillary veins? Will the content of my mouth to anus tube be sucked out? What will happen to my ears? Will something burst?
And what about my temperature? Will it drop significantly before I die of other causes? Or can I prevent this by moving wildly?
Can I be rescued in time, if I accidentally took the wrong door after taking a shower in a space station (if you could take a shower)? In the movie "Event Horizon" a guy is rescued when he entered space without a suit (his eyes bleeding and blood coming out of his mouth).
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5$\begingroup$ Welcome to Space! Several answers to What are the consequences if an astronaut's helmet gets damaged during a spacewalk? specifically address how much time one could survive, whether without the helmet or the entire suit. This question is a duplicate. $\endgroup$– DrSheldonCommented Jun 17, 2021 at 5:35
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1$\begingroup$ Darkdust's answer there cites less than 20 s to lose conscious, and 90 s to avoid permanent body swelling. KathleenPierson's answer there notes passing out in 15 s. There are also additional questions on this topic. This is not a new question. $\endgroup$– DrSheldonCommented Jun 17, 2021 at 12:42
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1$\begingroup$ @DrSheldon But there is no reference made to or calculation made of how long your body can stay warm without too much hets lost. And that is what I'm asking. Not if your body swells. I'll edit. $\endgroup$– Deschele SchilderCommented Jun 17, 2021 at 13:19
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2$\begingroup$ Please DO NOT change your question. If you have more than one question to ask, then ask them in separate postings. By changing the content of this posting, you have invalidated all of the comments and answers that were posted here up to that point. These questions and answers are not here just for your benefit. They are here for the benefit of anybody who searches the same topic on this site or in a public search engine. $\endgroup$– Solomon SlowCommented Jun 17, 2021 at 17:25
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3$\begingroup$ Your original version said, "...I have been robbed of my spacesuit during a spacewalk. So I'm naked..." $\endgroup$– Solomon SlowCommented Jun 17, 2021 at 17:46
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1 Answer
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If your lungs are filled with oxygen at suit pressure of about 0.3 bar, you are not able to hold breath as you want. The pressure difference from inside the lungs to the bare skin in vacuum is too big for the delicate and soft lung tissue.
There was a technician wearing a spacesuit when working inside a vacuum chamber. His suit got a leak and lost pressure, he was unconscious within a few seconds. His colleagues outside the chamber rescued him very fast and he survived.
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$\begingroup$ I'm not sure I get you on this. How can the air (or oxygen) in my lungs know what the pressure outside of my body is? $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 17, 2021 at 8:14
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3$\begingroup$ It doesn't "know" it applies the pressure it always has. What's changed is the pressure outside your body which has dropped to zero so there is now a pressure difference $\endgroup$– SlartyCommented Jun 17, 2021 at 8:17
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$\begingroup$ @Methadont The air does not know but your body does. Many years ago, the air within my lungs had a pressure of 5.0 bar, no problem my body was in decompression chamber at a pressure of 4.9999 bar. So the pressure difference was less than 0.1 mbar, $\endgroup$– UweCommented Jun 17, 2021 at 8:29
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1$\begingroup$ @Methadont per the wikipedia link a whole bunch of unpleasant things will happen, your lungs will not be sucked out - the sealed volume in your lungs at one atmosphere will try to expand until the pressure inside is equal to that outside (vacuum), where each doubling in size halves the pressure, so nominally your lungs are trying to get several times larger and your body is trying to hold them together. Your ribs would be strong enough but diaphragm/stomache would not so your lungs would push everything down and out. Digestive system would also void itself as well. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 17, 2021 at 9:10
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1$\begingroup$ @SolomonSlow Which doesn't say whether he succeeded in holding his breath, only that he died in the attempt. My understanding of the situation is that if you try it the air forces itself out anyway with lethal results. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 18, 2021 at 22:51