I remember seeing several instances where spacecraft (i.e. ISS) had small holes in them and they were fine (NASA even didn’t wake astronauts once). Since the pressure difference is so great (space is a vacuum), how come there’s no explosive decompression (all the air is sucked out at once)?
In: Physics
> pressure difference is so great
That’s the thing – it’s not. Atmospheric to vacuum is the same difference as sea level to 10 meters under water. It’s just 1 bar, or 1 kg per square centimeter.
For comparison, a municipal water system usually has a pressure of 3-5 bar, and a dripping tap also doesn’t blow your house up.
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