# Being exposed to the vacuum of space **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298 "2009-08-31T00:16:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/1 "2009-08-31T00:16:23Z")
Suppose that the Space Shuttle had a “window” that allowed me to stick my arm out while in orbit. This window would be specially made so that the difference in pressure between the shuttle and space would not cause me to be pushed through the opening. Kind of like the force field that they used on Star Trek: The Next Generation when launching shuttle craft. What physical effects would my arm experience? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/2 "2009-08-31T00:21:58Z")
Hmmm. Serious swelling for one; while exposure to vacuum won’t make you explode, having part of your body at normal pressure and an arm at zero pressure will cause blood and such to be pushed into your arm by the pressure. The skin would dry right out as the water on it’s surface sublimes. At some point I’d expect internal bleeding in the arm; even long term exposure to the kind of low pressure found in high mountains can do that. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/3 "2009-08-31T00:38:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Hmmm. Serious swelling for one; while exposure to vacuum won’t make you explode, having part of your body at normal pressure and an arm at zero pressure will cause blood and such to be pushed into your arm by the pressure. The skin would dry right out as the water on it’s surface sublimes. At some point I’d expect internal bleeding in the arm; even long term exposure to the kind of low pressure found in high mountains can do that. Forced _into_ your arm? I’d think that the rapidly expanding gas (formerly dissolved in the blood) would force everything _out_ of the arm, similar to a shaken bottle of pop being opened. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/4 "2009-08-31T00:39:25Z")
An enormous hickey would form on your arm. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/5 "2009-08-31T09:19:25Z")
You’d get massive radiation burns if your arm was in sunlight at all and bake at a lovely 225ºF. If it was in complete shade, your skin would start to freeze since it’d be at -243ºF. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/6 "2009-08-31T09:39:16Z")
May not be specific to your question ,but… A link from [NASA](http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970603.html). ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/7 "2009-08-31T09:55:46Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > You’d get massive radiation burns if your arm was in sunlight at all and bake at a lovely 225ºF. You’ll get a lot of damaging radiation, but I don’t know how fast that would go. > [@](#): > > If it was in complete shade, your skin would start to freeze since it’d be at -243ºF. But that would take a LONG time, since the only way to lose heat in space is by radiating it away. (I’m not sure but it seems to me you might even overheat in space from your body temperature alone). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-exposed-to-the-vacuum-of-space/508298/8 "2009-08-31T10:31:30Z")
As long as blood is still pumping through the arm I doubt it would freeze; as said in vacuum without anything to conduct heat it takes a long time for an object in shadow to get cold, and that assumes that the object isn’t self heating like a human body. How long the blood could keep circulating is the question.