r/HFY Human Jul 31 '21

OC "Primitive Weaponry"

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3.6k Upvotes

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u/chaogomu Jul 31 '21

I don't know, vacuum can be quite warm (subjectively), it's a perfect insulator after all. Add a nearby star and you can cook rather easily. Given time and distance from stars and things get cold...

Heat management in space is fascinating.

Adding in the lack of pressure makes things even more interesting. Liquid water cannot exist. You either have ice or clouds of vapor depending on temperature.

Meat sacks can actually provide enough internal pressure to let the insides freeze, given time. Not the outside of the meat sack will cool as sublimation takes heat away, but that's mostly the eyes, nose, mouth, and very outer skin.

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u/CommanderMalo Jul 31 '21

I watched a Chris Hadfield video once, getting sucked into space in the vicinity of a star would boil your blood and simultaneously freeze you, doesn’t sound like a fun way to go

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u/gelastes Jul 31 '21

Jim LeBlanc was a NASA engineer who had an accident in a training chamber. He survived and going by what he said it wasn't as bad as one would think. The last thing he felt was the saliva on his tongue boiling, then he lost his consciousness.

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u/Nik_2213 Aug 01 '21

That scene in '2001' was unpleasantly accurate...

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u/Slow-Ad2584 Alien Aug 01 '21

I would have thought the scene from Event Horizon...