Etymology realization of the day: Incredible = Not credible.

So I saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy last night at the Brew and View. I liked it, but that is not the point of this post.

I then read the book today, and I noted that both of them mention the fact that you can survive in space for 30 seconds with a lungful of air. I found this fact curious, since it went against what I thought was true about space.

So I did a bunch of questionable internet research, and I found in several places statements that support this proposition, at least mostly.

The bit about a lungful of air is, at least, somewhat deceptive. It might be that you need to take a good breath before busting outward into space, but in fact if you attempt to hold the air in your lungs once in a vacuum, you can destroy your lungs.

But the 30 second figure is basically exactly what I saw in several places. Specifically, this is the point at which you can return to a pressurized environment with a good chance of no permanent damage. However, you pass out after 10-15 seconds, which apparently is the length of time it takes deoxygenated blood to go from the lungs to the brain. It's estimated that one can actually survive from between 1-2 minutes in space.

As one site pointed out as a safety tip, "If your skin is exposed to direct sunlight without any protection from its intense ultraviolet radiation, you can get a very bad sunburn."

And then you'd peel, and that doesn't exactly help reel in the ladies.

(Afterthought: It might be that the statement, "Baby, I survived thirty seconds in the cold, lifeless vacuum of space," would be attractive enough to offset any unsightly peeling. Not being particularly good with the ladies, I do not know for sure. It might be best to wear sunscreen if there is any danger of being ejected into space by a renegade AI, just to be on the safe side.)

Rumors that are false: You don't freeze, because...

Etymology realization of the day: Incredible = Not credible.

So I saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy last night at the Brew and View. I liked it, but that is not the point of this post.

I then read the book today, and I noted that both of them mention the fact that you can survive in space for 30 seconds with a lungful of air. I found this fact curious, since it went against what I thought was true about space.

So I did a bunch of questionable internet research, and I found in several places statements that support this proposition, at least mostly.

The bit about a lungful of air is, at least, somewhat deceptive. It might be that you need to take a good breath before busting outward into space, but in fact if you attempt to hold the air in your lungs once in a vacuum, you can destroy your lungs.

But the 30 second figure is basically exactly what I saw in several places. Specifically, this is the point at which you can return to a pressurized environment with a good chance of no permanent damage. However, you pass out after 10-15 seconds, which apparently is the length of time it takes deoxygenated blood to go from the lungs to the brain. It's estimated that one can actually survive from between 1-2 minutes in space.

As one site pointed out as a safety tip, "If your skin is exposed to direct sunlight without any protection from its intense ultraviolet radiation, you can get a very bad sunburn."

And then you'd peel, and that doesn't exactly help reel in the ladies.

(Afterthought: It might be that the statement, "Baby, I survived thirty seconds in the cold, lifeless vacuum of space," would be attractive enough to offset any unsightly peeling. Not being particularly good with the ladies, I do not know for sure. It might be best to wear sunscreen if there is any danger of being ejected into space by a renegade AI, just to be on the safe side.)

Rumors that are false: You don't freeze, because the heat in your body has no outside molecules to shed heat to. Your blood does not boil, because the skin does a good job of holding pressure in for a while. You don't explode, because the pressure change is not significant enough. It would, however, be possible to explode if you went from a pressurized deep sea environment to a low-pressure environment nearly instantly.

Some dude in a NASA test chamber ended up going to a pressure close to vacuum because of an accident. He was alright, but his last conscious feeling before passing out was the feeling of the water on his tongue boiling. Which is awesome.

But anyway, I post this because this has TOTALLY revised my opinion of death in space. I used to assume it would be an instant, possibly excrutiatingly painful death. Now that I know you get to stay conscious for at least ten seconds actually experiencing vacuum (imagine how fucking weird that would feel to flap your arms and not feel resistance?), and that eventually you just kinda lose consciousness before even dying, I say bring it on! That sounds like a great way to die. How many people get to experience vacuum? How many people get to think, "Wow, this kinda rocks," right before they die?

That is all.