RE: starship-design: a question?

[David Levine <David@InterWorld.com>]

Here is a definative answer from the FAQ list of sci.space:

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Frequently Asked Questions 12/15 - Controversial Questions

    HOW LONG CAN A HUMAN LIVE UNPROTECTED IN SPACE

    If you *don't* try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a
    minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your
    breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have
to
    watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if
your
    Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and
animal
    experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no
    immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You
do
    not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.

    Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly
some
    [mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue)
    start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness
from
    lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two
minutes,
    you're dying. The limits are not really known.



>----------
>From: 	Phil Bakelaar[SMTP:pbakelaar@exit109.com]
>Sent: 	Tuesday, October 29, 1996 7:03 PM
>To: 	starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu
>Subject: 	starship-design: a question?
>
>my dad doesnt believe me... when you are in space in a vacuum
>with no suit, just plain skin, dont you explode, or something
>to that effect? (im not talking atomic bomb explosion, but
>you get my drift.)
>
>ben
>
>