See subject. I’m talking like a minor food-cutting-type cut on a finger, say.
It might have an effect on healing, closure, and consequent infection, wouldn’t it?
See subject. I’m talking like a minor food-cutting-type cut on a finger, say.
It might have an effect on healing, closure, and consequent infection, wouldn’t it?
Huh?
Do you mean in a vacuum? I think that will be a really cool scene in a movie the way the blood from a tiny nick goes spurting out.
You bleed because the pressure inside your blood vessels, including veins, is higher than the pressure outside your body, so you will still bleed in zero gravity, maybe not as much for a cut to a foot but more for a head wound. The differences could be significant, especially for the feet, where bleeding may be only half as fast with zero-g:
Are you under the mistaken impression that gravity is the primary force that compels blood to flow from a cut? It certainly matters - it’s why you hold your arm straight up immediately after donating blood (after they remove the needle), and it’s why you should stand or sit (rather than lying down) if you’ve got a bloody nose - but even in space, your body produces its own blood pressure. Yes, you’ll bleed just fine on the ISS.
Edit: ninja’d by Michael 63129.
There are different challenges to the circulatory system in space. From here
“There’s no gravity to pull blood into the lower part of the body. Instead, blood goes to the chest and head, causing astronauts to have puffy faces and bulging blood vessels in their necks.”
There is, of course, plenty of gravity, you just don’t notice it while in orbit.
Thanks. Yes, I knew that blood spurts, gushes and otherwise is pumped around and out by pressure. It just occured to me now, however, that a small scab would form * quicker* in microgravity, and prevent the issues in OP. The role of surface tension is larger.
I just had this image of having to judge the extent of a small cut not by seeing red streaming down a finger, but by having to count droplets.
Just thought of a new astronaut question, will post new query…
What food would they be cutting? It isn’t like they get a sack of raw potatoes delivered, and the guy on KP has to peel them.