if I were to push you out of an airlock
right now aside from being a really big
jerk what else would happen would you
explode would your eyes pop out hey
everybody thanks for watching dnews
today I'm trace there are a lot of
misconceptions about space out there and
one of the biggest is what happens when
a human is put into the vacuum of space
movies would have us believe all sorts
of grotesque things but in reality it'd
be pretty boring to watch and really
uncomfortable to experience the first
thing you'd notice as you hit space is
the air rushing out of your lungs faster
than a sneeze and far more painfully the
tiny alveoli sacs would likely be torn
in the process causing swelling and
discomfort assuming that you had that
problem later
protip don't try and hold your breath if
you know you're going into space just
exhale completely after a few seconds
you are already experiencing the effects
of anoxia which is the extreme form of
hypoxia severe lack of oxygen a study
done with over 100 dogs in 1965 found
that when exposed to a vacuum their
bowels and lungs evacuated immediately
so you definitely poop your pants - that
being said you're still alive and
without air you cannot smell your own
poop so silver lining yay the second
thing you notice is the saliva in your
mouth boiling and your nostrils feeling
really dry it wouldn't boil and burn you
though that's not what boiling means it
means that it would change state from a
liquid to a gas pressure volume and
temperature have a direct relationship
described by Boyle's law all things
being constant at sea level a liter of
water should boil at 100 Celsius but on
top of Mount Everest that same sea water
would boil at only 71 Celsius this means
in a vacuum water with no pressure would
boil instantly but it wouldn't be hot
speaking of boiling without the pressure
around your skin you'd notice them
uncomfortable probably painful tightness
as it stretches and swells not a lot and
it definitely wouldn't burst open but
you'd totally
swell up the circulatory system is a
closed loop though so as the pressure
drops because your blood vessels are
expanding the liquids in your blood
would also boil into gases this is
called ableism Schaffer Boyle's law yet
again this would also happen in your
eyes but they'd be okay and they would
not pop out a lot Total Recall your
newfound blood gases could cause
problems with blood flow the gases could
get stuck blocking blood flow to
important structures which could kill
you but that's you know totally a matter
of chance either way your swollen hands
and feet will definitely have that
pins-and-needles feeling later assuming
you were rescued did I forget to mention
that okay you're not even close to dead
yet so don't worry about rescue quite
yet not even close at this point a lot
could happen depending on where you're
floating stars are radiating a ton of
cosmic and UV radiation plus visible
light and all sorts of other stuff so if
you're in view of the Sun you would get
an instant sunburn on any exposed flesh
thanks to that heavy UV exposure
assuming you're around earth when this
befall zyou the temperature would be
about a hundred and twenty C in the Sun
and negative 230 C in the shade but even
in the shade he wouldn't freeze because
heat needs something to transfer through
air isn't great at moving heat around
and no air even better in a vacuum
heat can only move by radiating so
before when you first got pushed out and
your sweat boiled away it cooled you off
as it stole your heat but your muscles
are still generating heat with some of
that flailing you're probably doing
while you float around out there and now
that heat can't escape so unless you
touch the craft you were just expelled
from to give that heat a pathway
freezing isn't really something you
should be worried about at this point
you're swollen cold body is acclimated
to the environment you're swollen you're
uncomfortable you're poopy and you're
freaking out and to top it all off
you're covered in space hickeys where
the capillaries in your flesh have burst
all of this happens in a few seconds you
might even have time to enjoy the view
before you pass out scientists say that
you have about 15 seconds from when
you're exposed to the vacuum they know
this because of studies done with chimps
and mistakes made by humans both in
space and in vacuum chambers and
airplanes here on earth after 15 seconds
the deoxygenated blood from your lungs
reaches your brain and bam you pass out
from lack of o2 your blood continues to
boil at this point until it balances
your heart is probably still beating you
swell to a point until your skin
equalizes with the tension outside and
in the vacuum and you just kind of
hangout floating in space kind of
peaceful until BAM star-lord slaps that
mask on your face and you can breathe
again hey a 1965 study found that chimps
exposed to a near vacuum for three and a
half minutes recovered easily with no
apparent cognitive defects but it was
hit or miss because one chimp suffered a
heart attack and another died after only
three minutes so if it's only around a
minute you'd be up and around in no time
no probably still in some pain the dogs
in the 1965 study we're back to normal
in as little as ten minutes of course if
there's no one to save you you would die
of simple asphyxiation
so next time you're pushed into the
vacuum of space remember bring a clean
change of underwear because you've got
about 15 seconds to get that on what do
you think about all this let us know
down in the comments make sure you
subscribe for more dnews every day of
the week and thanks a lot I would
definitely not want to be pushed into
space