What would happen to a person without protection in space?

Question

Details please.

Answer 1

They will die painfully and quickly.  I'm sure if you search the net enough you can get the gory details.

Answer 2

they would die.

Answer 3

All the gases in their body would rush out of all the openings in their skin...pores, mouth, nose, etc. Then they would probably freeze.

Answer 4

you will die as its absolutley freezing up there

Answer 5

It appears that the consensus is that loss of consciousness from asphyxiation would occur first, followed by decompression sickness as long as you don't hold your breath (which may cause your lungs to explode).  So, we have unconsciousness in 10 -15 seconds and death in about 2 minutes, from vacuum rather than from temperature.

Due to the lack of a medium to allow conduction or convection, loss of heat is by radiation only, which would take place in a very slow process. Therefore, there is no danger of immediately freezing.

Some physical damage may result if the victim attempted to hold his/her breath on introduction to the low pressure environment. In that case, a ruptured lung may result from the imbalance in pressure. Damage may also be done to ear drums, and the gastric system. Without the protection of the atmosphere, solar radiation, particularly ultraviolet rays may cause severe sunburn in a few seconds. After 10 seconds, decompression sickness (the bends) may also result.

However, the primary threat is of asphyxiation. In the low pressure environment, normal gas exchange would instead cause the rapid deoxygenation of the bloodstream. After up to 15 seconds, the deoxygenated blood would reach the brain, and loss of consciousness would result. Death would gradually follow after two minutes of exposure - though the limits are uncertain. If actions are taken quickly, and normal pressure restored within around 90 seconds, the victim may well make a full recovery.

At most, an astronaut without a suit would last about 15 seconds before losing conciousness from lack of oxygen. (That's how long it would take the body to use up the oxygen left in the blood.) Of course, on Earth, you could hold your breath for several minutes without passing out. But that's not going to help in a vacuum. In fact, attempting to hold your breath is a sure way to a quick death. To make it for even a few seconds, Sunshine's Mace must have expelled the air from his lungs before he ventured into the starry void. If he hadn't, the vacuum would have caused that oxygen to expand and rupture his lung tissue, forcing fatal air bubbles into his blood vessels, and ultimately his heart and brain.

Some flight surgeons at NASA, for instance, say death in a vacuum would be almost instantaneous. They offer the following Technicolor scenario: your blood would boil, your eyeballs would explode, and your lungs would turn to red slush.

But the medical literature suggests this view is exaggerated. For one thing, I have never seen anything indicating your eyeballs would explode (although your eardrumms might burst). It's true that in the absence of ambient pressure your blood and other bodily fluids would boil, in the sense that they would turn to vapor. But that's not as drastic as it sounds. Your soft tissues would swell markedly, but they'd return to normal if you were recompressed within a short time.

It's conceivable your lungs might rupture, since in a vacuum the air in them would greatly expand. But experience suggests this is rare even if decompression is extremely rapid. The chances are much greater if your windpipe is closed, making it impossible for the expanding air to escape.

Death would not be instantaneous. It's believed you'd have 10-15 seconds of "useful consciousness" and it'd be several minutes before you'd die. If you were rescued within that time there's a decent chance you'd survive.

Answer 6

You would freeze. If you're near the sun however (I don't know how), or on the bright side of the moon, you'll fry.

Answer 7

The most immidiate effect would be the boiling of your blood and mucus membranes (including but not limited to eyeballs -_^). The gasses carried in your blood try to escape due to the difference in pressure. Next would come the onslaught of particles of space debree traveling at enormus speeds since there is no friction to slow them down in space. The last of the horrid effects would be intense gamma radiation from solar flares and CME (coronal mass ejections). If your lucky you will be in a shadow of planet so you freeze almost instantly. oh, DON'T FORGET you cannot scream for help as there is no medium for sound to travel through. You will almost surely die a painful death, however short it is.

Answer 8

no. they may die from lack of oxygen but there head will not explode here is what will happen:

1.  your flesh will swell up

2.the air will be sucked out of your lungs

3. gas might get sucked out of your lower intestinal trail

4. your blood and other body fluids might boil or vaporize

but on the bright side:

1. you have 15 seconds of consciouness to get to safety

if you passed out then you have 2 min. to be rescued before the vaxuum did you in!

Answer 9

I assume you mean without protection in a vacuum and that vacuum being somewhere outside of the Earth's atmosphere?

A spacesuit provides 3 primary protections: thermal (it provides a proper temperature for your body), O2 supply (it lets you breath), and pressure (it keeps you from getting the bends - also known as decompression sickness).

Answer 10

It is more likely your skin would start to boil. With the low pressure, the water in your skin would start to vaporize. You'd die pretty quickly, and you might bloat a bit, but you would remain essentially intact. Possibly a man without a space suit

would asphyxiate rather quickly without oxygen, the gases in the body would produce tremendous pain as they try to escape from the body without atmospheric pressure, and the exposed flesh would simultaneously turn dark from solar winds whilst becoming solidified as our atoms and molecules slow down and stop moving for eternity.

Not all that pleasant I would imagine.

Answer 11

yes, they will explode. Because the air pressure in space is so low, the pressure on the inside of your body forces your skin to expand, since there is nothing to hold it back. It is kind of like being "sucked" apart from all directions.

Answer 12

the air and water in your body would expand and you would explode...after freezing to death

Answer 13

Various minor problems sunburn, swelling of skin and underlying tissue start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes, you're dying. The limits are not really known.

You do not explode and your blood does not boil because of the containing effect of your skin and circulatory system. You do not instantly freeze because, although the space environment is typically very cold, heat does not transfer away from a body quickly. Loss of consciousness occurs only after the body has depleted the supply of oxygen in the blood. If your skin is exposed to direct sunlight without any protection from its intense ultraviolet radiation, you can get a very bad sunburn. "

Answer 14

Actually there is air conditioning in space suit which keeps astronaut from overheating. I wonder, why people used to think that space is cold, temperature is property of matter, space is vacuum so there is no temperature at all.

Answer 15

Well, it's a vacuum, with no air, never mind oxygen. It's extremely cold. You're vulnerable to all sorts of radiation and particles...

Who knows what would get you first? It'd be messy though.

Answer 16

If you exhale immediately in space it buys you like a minute or something because the gases wont expand in you.As others have said any exposure to the sun would result in a severe burn.

I read that humans can survive up to 2 minutes in space before losing consciousness.

Answer 17

Kay T pretty much has it correct, from everything I've read.  You'd have 9-15 seconds before you lost consciousness, and a couple of minutes before you died.  

If you were retrieved within 90 seconds, you could be revived (probably).