Why is everyone going on about breathing in space, when the subject I
started with was travelling through time in Dean R.Koontz's book
Lightning? Oh well, never mind, we're here now.
My point is this: according to Star Trek... oh, stop groaning! This is
one of those things which one would expect them to get right, since it
is present knowledge, but in the episode "Disaster" (where everyone does
the old Saturday morning kids' cartoon
working-together-to-overcome-adversity thing), there is a scene in which
Geordie and Dr.Crusher are trapped in a cargo bay, with a "plasma fire"
giving out radiation which could either kill them, or cause stuff in
barrels to explode (basically). They decided to open the cargo bay
doors and shut off the external force field, which would result in all
the air rushing out, snuffing out the fire and blowing the barrels out
(hopefully crippling a passing Cardassian warship...).
The point (see, there is a point to my ramblings!) is this: Dr.Crusher
said that they should take a few deep breaths first, then hold it in
before flushing the air out (while, of course, holding on to
something!), and above all resist the urge to exhale, despite the
pressure on the chest! They would then have ten seconds of useful
consciouseness followed by twenty seconds of delerium, before they
passed out altogether. (If those figures are wrong, could someone with
the video please say so, 'cos I'd hate it if Star Trek was branded
"inaccurate" just because of me!) Anyway, they'd have that long to
repressurize the cargo bay. Conveniently, the control panel was miles
away from anything sturdy enough to hold on to... anyway, can the
divers, biologists etc. out there confirm or deny this? (Don't just say
"Oh well, ST never gets anything right, I mean, where's this Khan bloke
who's supposed to rule the world in the 1990s, etc."!)
On a related point, people slag off some episodes of Dr.Who because
people get "sucked" (ie. blown) out into space, and their bodies don't
explode! Now could we please have a consensus on this from the experts
- I know ear drums, eyes and olfactory organs (ie. stuff up nose) all
rupture in vacuum because of the pressure difference, but it isn't true
that bodies explode, is it? I heard somewhere that our bodies create
internal forces just to combat the pressure of the atmosphere, and thus
in space these cause the body to explode outwards; elsewhere, I heard
that the human body is too tough for that to happen unless it were full
of air! (Which means certain peoples' heads would explode! Not that
I'm insinuating anything - I was talking about Pamela Anderson...) So,
do human bodies explode in space or not? Answers on a postcard or
sealed-down envelope to the usual address.
D.Chilard
P.S. No-one writing in to correct me by saying that Pamela Anderson
actually has a vacuum in her head, so in space the pressure would be the
same inside and out!
started with was travelling through time in Dean R.Koontz's book
Lightning? Oh well, never mind, we're here now.
My point is this: according to Star Trek... oh, stop groaning! This is
one of those things which one would expect them to get right, since it
is present knowledge, but in the episode "Disaster" (where everyone does
the old Saturday morning kids' cartoon
working-together-to-overcome-adversity thing), there is a scene in which
Geordie and Dr.Crusher are trapped in a cargo bay, with a "plasma fire"
giving out radiation which could either kill them, or cause stuff in
barrels to explode (basically). They decided to open the cargo bay
doors and shut off the external force field, which would result in all
the air rushing out, snuffing out the fire and blowing the barrels out
(hopefully crippling a passing Cardassian warship...).
The point (see, there is a point to my ramblings!) is this: Dr.Crusher
said that they should take a few deep breaths first, then hold it in
before flushing the air out (while, of course, holding on to
something!), and above all resist the urge to exhale, despite the
pressure on the chest! They would then have ten seconds of useful
consciouseness followed by twenty seconds of delerium, before they
passed out altogether. (If those figures are wrong, could someone with
the video please say so, 'cos I'd hate it if Star Trek was branded
"inaccurate" just because of me!) Anyway, they'd have that long to
repressurize the cargo bay. Conveniently, the control panel was miles
away from anything sturdy enough to hold on to... anyway, can the
divers, biologists etc. out there confirm or deny this? (Don't just say
"Oh well, ST never gets anything right, I mean, where's this Khan bloke
who's supposed to rule the world in the 1990s, etc."!)
On a related point, people slag off some episodes of Dr.Who because
people get "sucked" (ie. blown) out into space, and their bodies don't
explode! Now could we please have a consensus on this from the experts
- I know ear drums, eyes and olfactory organs (ie. stuff up nose) all
rupture in vacuum because of the pressure difference, but it isn't true
that bodies explode, is it? I heard somewhere that our bodies create
internal forces just to combat the pressure of the atmosphere, and thus
in space these cause the body to explode outwards; elsewhere, I heard
that the human body is too tough for that to happen unless it were full
of air! (Which means certain peoples' heads would explode! Not that
I'm insinuating anything - I was talking about Pamela Anderson...) So,
do human bodies explode in space or not? Answers on a postcard or
sealed-down envelope to the usual address.
D.Chilard
P.S. No-one writing in to correct me by saying that Pamela Anderson
actually has a vacuum in her head, so in space the pressure would be the
same inside and out!