/sci/ - Science & Math

>>5356314
Admitted space-fag here.

Your eardrums would most likely burst. Covering them wouldn't do any good. Also, any exposed wet areas would boil (Moisture on the surface of your eyes, inside your mouth), and you'd get some cold burns on your skin from the sudden depressurisation snap-freezing the air being sucked out with you. That's the immediate stuff. Since you exhaled like a good astronaut, you'll lose useful consciousness in about 10-15 seconds (Rather than your lungs being damaged if you tried holding your breath)

Assuming you aimed right, and you reach the other airlock before you pass out, you'll likely be fine, apart from the eardrum thing. The critical thing is the hypoxia. Even if you pass out, as long as you're given air and revived quick smart (Less than a minute after losing consciousness, to avoid brain damage) you'll recover.

The skin actually is a decent pressure suit. In the absence of atmospheric pressure, it provides mechanical pressure to keep everything nicely inside you. Only trouble is, it is stretchy so you will start to bloat after a short while, which will cause problems if you're left in the vacuum, but is reversible. Your blood doesn't boil the second you're exposed to vacuum. Blood pressure will still be high enough to prevent that until after you're dead.

Astronauts have survived decompression before. One astronaut had a faulty seal around his hand, but he was brought back inside before his suit fully decompressed. His hand had swollen up rather nicely though, but it went back down within a few hours. Another severe case was when a suit completely failed inside a vacuum test chamber, and the guy passed out. They got the chamber repressurised within about 20 seconds and got straight to reviving him and he came right with no lasting ill effects. People HAVE died in that same situation though. The vacuum of space is an incredibly hostile environment.

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