From dev@ei.ecn.purdue.edu Mon Nov  4 15:55:20 1991
From: dev@ei.ecn.purdue.edu (Larry Weeks)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek,sci.space
Subject: Re: How long COULD one live in a vaccuum?
Date: 28 Oct 91 04:17:49 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network

dev@ei.ecn.purdue.edu (Larry Weeks) once wrote: 
>aph@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Al Hunt) once wrote: 
>> I suppose initially the effects of a vaccuum would be the same as an 
>> accidental decompression in a deep dive. You would have a few seconds
>> to play around, but the results would be much more messy and painful
>> than they showed on ST.
>
> Perhaps we should ask sci.space? I recall seeing a posting there from
> a NASA guy (?), speaking of NASA experiments into this arena. They
> used, sick as may sound, live animal subjects to test the results of
> being exposed to the near-vacuum of LEO. No explosions, no instant
> deep freezes... in fact, not many awful consequences other than
> running out of air and suffocating, I think.

A person from sci.space replied already, so here is some pertinent
info on the effects of exposure to a vacuum... This is from the
sci.space Frequently Asked Questions series of postings, and has
undergone the rigor of being checked by lots of sci.space people for
accuracy, so I'll trust it.

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From: leech@cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Frequently Asked Questions 12/16 - Controversial Questions
Message-ID: <6900@borg.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 20 Oct 91 00:02:45 GMT

HOW LONG CAN A HUMAN LIVE UNPROTECTED IN SPACE

If you *don't* try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a
minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your
breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to
watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if your
Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and animal
experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no
immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You do
not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.

Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly some
[mild, reversible, painless] 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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Larry

--
Larry Weeks        | "God forbid we should ever be 20 years without...
dev@ecn.purdue.edu |  a rebellion." -- Thomas Jefferson
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"It is not what we know but what we use." -- Marchant