WEBVTT - What Would Space Do To The Human Body?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Seger. Do you remember that time in Battlestar

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<v Speaker 1>Galactica when that one character was blown out an air

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<v Speaker 1>lock into outer space without a suit? No, what about

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<v Speaker 1>when it happened in two thousand one, or Guardians of

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<v Speaker 1>the Galaxy or Sunshine. Yes, we all dream about traveling

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<v Speaker 1>in space, but if movies are any indication, we spend

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<v Speaker 1>almost as much time thinking about flying around up there

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<v Speaker 1>without a suit on. So let's answer this question once

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<v Speaker 1>and for all. What would space actually do to a

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<v Speaker 1>human body. Well, here's the good news. You wouldn't die instantly. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you might actually survive for a little bit out there.

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<v Speaker 1>How do we know because somebody tested it out on dogs.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen sixty five, researchers at Brooks Air Force Base

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<v Speaker 1>in Texas exposed several dogs to a near vacuum. The

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<v Speaker 1>dogs survived for up to nineties seconds, but if they

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<v Speaker 1>went two minutes or more, they died when re pressurized.

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<v Speaker 1>And if your first thought is they did this to dogs,

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<v Speaker 1>look I'm right there with you. Researchers at NASA did

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<v Speaker 1>the same to chimpanzees in the late nineteen sixties, finding

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<v Speaker 1>that they could last up to three point five minutes.

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<v Speaker 1>And then there's been a few accidents where people got

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<v Speaker 1>d and then re pressurized, like a technician at Johnson

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<v Speaker 1>Space Center who lost consciousness after twelve seconds. This was

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<v Speaker 1>just before the moisture on his tongue began to boil.

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<v Speaker 1>That's right, his tongue boiled sea. Without air pressure to

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<v Speaker 1>keep your precious bodily fluids in their liquid state, they

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<v Speaker 1>would rapidly lose heat energy before they froze and then

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<v Speaker 1>evaporated totally. This isn't the worst thing the lack of

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<v Speaker 1>pressure can do to you either. The gases inside you

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<v Speaker 1>would expand, causing you to swell up like a balloon

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<v Speaker 1>in a thank Giving Day parade. This includes air and

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<v Speaker 1>gas bubbles formed from your boiling bodily fluids. That effect

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<v Speaker 1>is called ebulism, which can block your bloodstream with those bubbles,

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<v Speaker 1>and that would cause you to pass out in about

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen seconds. From the lack of blood flowing into your brain,

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<v Speaker 1>your skins blood vessels would burst. Your internal organs would

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<v Speaker 1>also swell and likely tear, but you wouldn't explode like

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<v Speaker 1>in total recall. You would just stretch painfully until you died.

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<v Speaker 1>Keep in mind, so far we've only been talking about

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<v Speaker 1>the effects to a body in a vacuum. In actual space,

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<v Speaker 1>there are even more hazards to deal with. Contrary to

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<v Speaker 1>what some inferior intellects may say, it actually isn't very

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<v Speaker 1>cold in space because there aren't enough gas particles to

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<v Speaker 1>transfer heat. But depending on your location, you could either

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<v Speaker 1>be exposed to a star's thermal radiation at around a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and twenty degrees celsius, or your own body heat

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<v Speaker 1>would radiate away in the shade at around negative one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred degrees. Cosmic rays and solar wind would also cook

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<v Speaker 1>you with high energy photons, destroying your DNA and possibly

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<v Speaker 1>leading to cancer if you even survived, And while you're

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<v Speaker 1>swelling and roasting, you might also be hit by micro meteoroids,

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<v Speaker 1>which are those little particles of dust and rock that

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<v Speaker 1>whipped through space at high speed. Finally, there's the obvious

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<v Speaker 1>lack of oxygen. Normally, you could hold your breath for

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<v Speaker 1>several minutes, but remember without pressure, that whole boiling effect

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<v Speaker 1>would diffuse the oxygen from your blood, so again, after

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<v Speaker 1>about fifteen seconds, you'd pass out, and don't try to

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<v Speaker 1>hold your breath either, it would just expand with the

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<v Speaker 1>other gases, rupturing your lungs. All in all, these things

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<v Speaker 1>would probably kill you in less than a minute. Check

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<v Speaker 1>out the brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com.