– If you were in space and had a space suit over your entire body except for your hand, what would it do to you?

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I know space is a vacuum. However, if you were to be in space with a really tight seal around your body except for your hand, would that have any adverse effects on that part of your body?

In: Physics

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

That exact thing happened for Joe Kittinger in 1960. It was in a high altitude balloon flight with a pressure suit. It was at 100 000feet the pressure there is 1% of the pressure at sea level so that is not a significant difference from a perfect vacuum for an exposed human hand.

His right glow sprung a leek during ascent. The suit was designed so it would have a pressure seal around the wrist if the glow leaked. He did not tell the ground crew because he suspected that the instruction would be to abort.

I am not sure when it started to leak but the ascent took one and a half hour and he then stayed at peak altitude for 12 minutes so the balloon drifted to the landing site. The decent took 4 minutes 36 seconds. So his hand was in practical Vaccum for at least 12 minutes I would guess that half an hour is a better minimum estimation.

The result was severe pain and a hand he could not use. It swelled to twice the normal size. The hand returned to normal 3 hours later.

I suppose that the has was still in a glow so the swelling was limited to the size of the glow but it was at zero pressure. What would happen to longer time exposure or without any glow is had to know but extreme swelling of a hand for hours would like not to be good for it.

[https://www.businessinsider.com/joseph-kittinger-1960-space-sky-diver-2012-10?r=US&IR=T](https://www.businessinsider.com/joseph-kittinger-1960-space-sky-diver-2012-10?r=US&IR=T)

[https://www.history.com/news/joe-kittingers-death-defying-leap-from-the-edge-of-space](https://www.history.com/news/joe-kittingers-death-defying-leap-from-the-edge-of-space)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger)

Humans have even survived full-body exposure to vacuum for a short time. in 1966 a suite failed in a vacuum chamber test and Jim LeBlanc was exposed to vacuum. He remained conscious for 14 seconds and recalled the feeling of his saliva boiling of how to tongue. The vacuum chamber was rapidly pressurized and he was given oxygen 25s after the failure. He recovered immediately with an earache and no permanent damage.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body#Vacuum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body#Vacuum)

Anonymous 0 Comments

your hand is connected to the rest of your body, so your entire body would eventually freeze to death.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I do recall reading somewhere that you can survive in space without a helmet (assuming the rest of you is in a protective suit) for around fifteen seconds. After that you pass out because you lose all the oxygen in your blood.
EDIT: Sorry, I realised I didn’t make it clear that shortly after you pass out you then die because your unprotected head is exposed to a freezing vacuum. You definitely die. I just thought it was intriguing that you could theoretically take off your helmet, snap a selfie, and then put your helmet back on. Although I can’t imagine it would do your skin any good. Plus, there’s no shielding from radiation.

An unprotected hand would last longer than fifteen seconds, but probably not that much longer.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Not only is it a vacuum in space, but it’s also really cold, so your hand would eventually freeze solid. If your suit trulywas and would stay completely sealed during the process of your hand freezing to death, then the rest of your body would be ok.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Yep, you would. Space has no medium for heat transfer so your hand wouldn’t freeze immediately, but it would eventualy. The bigger concern would be decompression.

There’s a show on Netflix called Love, Death, and Robots. It’s a short story anthology series. The episode Helping Hand deals with this exactly.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Interesting thing, NASA has developed essentially a spandex space suit, not airtight but allows compression so you can breathe and keeps pressure on the skin. This theoretically works just fine, as your skin provides a decent amount of protection. It’s been tested, but shelves. It had a normal space helmet, and needed to fit exactly or you would get big blood blisters where it didn’t.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Hypotheticals are not allowed. Better to r/asksciencediscussion.