A vacuum is a volume in a given area that contains a negligible amount of matter. Because of this, the pressure in the area is also much lower. A vacuum is essentially an almost empty space. The word comes from a Latin “vacuus” word meaning: empty, free, deprived of something.
Out there the almost empty space means that there is less than one atom per cubic meter between galaxies.
Less than 1 piece…
This type of condition has not yet been modelled even under laboratory conditions. In addition, our universe is constantly expanding, as a result of which the vacuum space between galaxies (not between planets and celestial bodies within a galaxy) is getting bigger and bigger. Well, matter likes to be close to each other, so they attract each other (gravity), as a result of which the space between them is emptied and the cosmic void is created.
But so that we know where to place all this in our heads:
An average adult human body is made up of about 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms.
7 trillion trillion trillion atoms. Or 7 octillion. =) In an area the size of one human body…
Well, then what would happen to us out there, in the absence of proper protective equipment?
There is low pressure in space. Pressure is what determines the temperature of the atmosphere at which the liquid boils and then turns into a gas. We don’t have to leave the Earth’s atmosphere for this, because the bottom of this limit starts right here in the stratosphere at a height of 18-19 km above sea level. This is the Armstrong – line, where water begins to boil at a temperature equal to the heat of the human body: 37 °C.
Since the human body is 60% water, you can guess the rest…
According to NASA bioastronautics research:
All our body tissues containing water would begin to expand, and in the absence of the right pressure for us, the water in our body would boil. In addition, the vacuum would extract a large amount of air from our lungs, which would lead to suffocation within minutes. Well, after the first round of air withdrawal, the gas and water vapor would be sucked out of our body through the airways. However, since the evaporation of the boiling water takes the heat away from us, the parts around our nose and mouth would freeze. The rest of our body also cools down, but much, much more slowly.
By the way, the blood circulating in us boils more slowly due to the internal pressure of our circulatory system.
Without a space suit, we would die in space in about 2 minutes.
Be a Nerdy Bird!
