This is probably the last update I'll get in before the final deadline for Drunk Duck Awards voting. So if you haven't cast a vote yet, this should be my last nagging reminder: You're almost out of time! So if you have a minute, please pop over to the Drunk Duck Awards voting page and vote for your favorite Drunk Duck comics to be nominated. Click on the link below to go there!
Today's animation reminded me of an old movie trope that I've probably already blurbed about, but since I can't be totally sure, I'll just write about it again (what, you thought I was actually keeping track?!). In the movies, when some unlucky astronaut gets sucked out into space without their space suit, a lot of times they'll suffer one of two gruesome fates: They may explode, like Bart and Homer in the Simpsons Halloween Special… or they may turn into an instant ice cube, like Tim Robbins in Mission to Mars. In fact, neither of these things would happen.
The whole “insta-freeze” myth comes from the idea that outer space is very cold. First, that's not entirely true; depending on how close you are to the sun, and if you're getting direct sunlight, space can be very hot at times, but if you're not in direct sunlight, and there's no atmosphere to convect heat to you, then the temperature can be almost nothing. But even when you're receiving no heat, it takes a very long time to freeze to death in space, because just like there's no atmosphere to transfer heat to you, there's also nothing there to transfer it away from you either. Think of it as the difference between stepping outside naked on a day when the air temperature is zero degrees, versus jumping naked into a pond that's full of zero degree water on the verge of freezing. Zero degree air is uncomfortable; zero degree water will kill you fast. That's because the liquid water contains more molecules to transfer your body heat away compared to gaseous air which has relative few molecules. In the vacuum of space, there are almost no molecules, so you'll just slowly lose heat through radiation. You'll die from a lot of other things before you freeze to death, and you definitely won't turn into an instant ice cube.
What about exploding? Wouldn't the massive pressure differential between your body and the vacuum cause you to burst from the inside? No, but you would swell up and bloat pretty bad. It wouldn't be enough to burst you like a balloon, but it wouldn't be pleasant either. A lot of other really nasty stuff would also happen to you. For instance, the low pressure would cause all the liquid in your body – your saliva, your blood, the mucus membranes in your nose and eyes – to boil away, and you'd dry out into a piece of beef jerky. The only good part is that you'd be unconscious after 15 seconds, so you'd miss all the really good parts.
By the way, just because space won't cause you to go all explodey, doesn't mean pressure changes can't pop you like a balloon under the right circumstances. Deep sea divers have been splattered in the past during rapid decompression accidents. If you want to hear something really gross, read up on the Byford Dolphin diving bell incident. I'll warn you though, do not under any circumstances do an image search. It'll spoil your appetite for the rest of the day.
On that cheery note, have a great weekend! More to come!
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