Spoilers for Alien: Resurrection, in case anybody cares
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So I was watching Alien: Resurrection the other day and near the end, the alien baby hybrid gets knocked against a window that has a small, fist-sized hole in it leading out into space. The suction from the hole traps the alien against the window and the force of the suction pulls out the alien’s guts into space and it dies.
Suppose something like that happens on the international space station, a small hole about the size of a person’s finger opens up. Assuming that the window’s not going to break or the hole get any bigger, would a person be in danger if they simply plugged up the hole with their hand? Would the suction be painful?
I’m assuming that “suction” is a misnomer, that its actually the pressure inside the space station that’s causing the air and everything to be pushed outwards. If that’s true, would there be less pressure if the person was in a smaller space station, like maybe a one-person pod vs. a gigantic space station?
Also, how does the pressure in space on the international space station hole compare to a hole on a submarine that’s underwater? Could you stop a leak on a sub with your finger?
Probably not - at least not quickly. The air pressure is surely going to be no more than normal sea-level pressure on earth (14.7 psi, as used aboard the ISS). A finger-sized hole would be perhaps half a square inch, so the force would not be enough to cause immediate problems. (Though it’s plausible that a long exposure would produce bruising, etc.)
Yes.
No, the pressure doesn’t depend on the size of the space station. You could have a small one with the same pressure as the ISS. It is true that a leak of a certain size will cause the pressure in a small container to reduce more quickly than for a large one.
That will depend on depth - but at only 33 ft the pressure difference is 14.7 psi, and submarines are usually much deeper than that. So in the event of even a small leak, the chance you could do anything useful with your finger is basically nil.
Sorry, but I have to: There is no suction whatsoever. You are blown out by the internal air pressure of the space station. Suction is an illusion, like cold…
It will depend on how pressurized your ship is. I also believe that humans can survive at a pressure quite lower than typical as long as the partial pressure of Oxygen is sufficient. E.g. since about 20% of the atmosphere is Oxygen, that means that humans shouldn’t have much of a problem breathing 100% oxygen pressurized to only 1/5 of Earth sea level. It might feel a bit odd, and could be a fire hazard <cough>Apollo 1</cough>, but you won’t suffocate.
In the early days of the US space program, the air inside the capsules was replaced with pure oxygen, allowing the internal pressure to be reduced considerably (from 14.7 to 5 psi, I believe). I read somewhere once that if an Apollo capsule was punctured by a micrometeorite, the astronauts would have had from 15 to 30 seconds to react, thanks to the lower internal pressure. This is a fair amount of time in an emergency.
IIRC, Soviet space capsules have always had a 14.7 psi atmosphere of air (80% nitrogen, 20% oxygen). This may have been to offset the hazard of fire. (The Apollo 1 astronauts burned to death in less than a minute because they were in a pure oxygen environment.)
But 20 seconds of that likely would be them trying to float around to do whatever it is they need to just to begin resolving the situation, seems they would likely freeze to death before they could really do much. I would imagine a quick drop in pressure would be a little shocking causing a delay in your reaction anyway.
It would be painful, but not dangerous. You’d basically get a hickey - you’d suffer some tissue damage which would cause bruising, but your body’s internal pressure is insufficient to break the skin just because it is no longer counteracted by atmospheric pressure. Even a drop of nine atmospheres, as in the Byford Dolphin accident, only caused this kind of damage to one of the four divers - the others died instantly but intact.
The size of the space station relative to the size of the hole would determine how long it took for all the air to escape into space. A larger space station would produce a longer lasting wind, but you’d also still have enough air to breathe for a lot longer.
As mentioned, the difference in pressure between the outside of a submarine and the inside is a lot higher than the pressure inside a spaceship and the outside.
Not really. I’ve been in a pressure chamber that went from sea-level pressure to 25,000’ in a few seconds. Fog forms, and it gets noticeably cool. But it’s no big problem (provided oxygen is available), and is a routine part of training.
Exactly. Not only are astronauts trained until they can practically do things in their sleep, they’re also not the type who easily panic. This was especially true in the early days of the space program, when they were almost all experienced combat and/or test pilots. They wrote the book on sangfroid.
Air pressure at sea level is about 1 kg per square centimeter. Not sure what pressure they keep the ISS at, but I’m sure it’s lower.
So you can sort of test this by putting 1 kg/cm2 pressure somewhere on your skin, perhaps by having a 5 kg cat standing on your lap on its tiny little ~ 1 cm2 feet. That hurts a bit but isn’t a problem. Obviously covering a hole with vacuum on the other side works in the opposite direction, but as far as I know skin works in both directions.
I heard about something like this on the radio once, where they talked about how you could quickly plug a small leak in a space capsule temporarily by simply covering it with your hand.
No indeed, it’s at Earth sea-level pressure. The shuttle was the same. It reduces the fire risk, but it does mean that astronauts doing an EVA have to spend several hours decompressing beforehand, while breathing pure oxygen.
It isn’t a question of not using the word, but of being scientifically accurate. No, there is no such thing as suction. It is an illusion. Air molecules are never ‘pulled’ by anything, only pushed.
I say there is such a thing as suction. I know there is, because A) I am a native speaker of English and B) I have sucked things through a straw. A) allows me to describe B) as “suction”. That the explanation for suction involves a difference of air pressure is fine; it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with using “suction” to refer to the phenomenon in B) (or other analogous phenomena), to which the word is applicable by definition.
Agreed. Sorry Hail Ants, but I have to throw you a Yellow Pedantic Card on this one. I am well aware of what you’re saying, but “suction” is perfectly fine in day to day speech.
There is a report, which I’m too lazy to google, of an Astronaut with a small suit puncture. According to the report, he fealt a small amout of pain/discomfort, which he attributed to rubbing/pinching. His ?? hand ?? skin was sucked/pressed into the hole, which stopped any significant leaking, and the problem was identified after he came back inside.