Comment 2WBC Re: Falling

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NASA envisons an airborne colony on Venus, before Mars

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Falling (Score: 1)

by lmariachi@pipedot.org on 2014-12-22 07:07 (#2W8P)

If you fell out of this thing, would you die before you hit the ground?

Re: Falling (Score: 2, Interesting)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2014-12-22 08:15 (#2W8R)

You'd certainly go unconscious pretty quickly... extremely high temperatures combined with no oxygen and poison gases if you do try to take a breath. No doubt you'd have heat-stroke before you hit, but the human body doesn't just instantly shut-off when stressed beyond its limits. With the fall taking less than 2 minutes, you'd likely still be alive, even if pretty far gone.

Re: Falling (Score: 1)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-12-23 16:49 (#2WAC)

Ok, what about being shot into the sun? Assuming you're in a space suit capable of like support in open space, leaving from earth, at what point would you actually die? I imagine you wouldn't make it alive to the sun's corona, right?

Re: Falling (Score: 1)

by insulatedkiwi@pipedot.org on 2014-12-23 16:53 (#2WAD)

Probably when your oxygen, or heat source runs out.. that said, I don't think most spacesuits can survive temps upwards of 200C, and I'd be surprised if you didn't hit those temps somewhere around mercury (give or take a few thousand miles).

Re: Falling (Score: 1)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2014-12-23 20:30 (#2WAK)

well, we're imagining a space suit that could keep you alive under normal conditions in space in the neighborhood of earth. So this theoretical space suit never runs out of air, and could indefinitely keep you alive in the same area of space that earth orbits. So no crazy heat shield other than that required around earth.

The point is that you probably wouldn't reach the sun ( think this is also true of any gas giants) , so how bad would Venus have to be to kill you before you hit the ground.

Extra credit if you show your work or conduct any experiments near the sun.

Re: Falling (Score: 1)

by insulatedkiwi@pipedot.org on 2014-12-24 12:44 (#2WBC)

I've never needed extra credit :P

Anyhow, a space suit with a nuclear battery and oxygen generation capabilities, it would only leave heat or pressure.. as I'm no space suit engineer, I'm pretty sure that the temp increasing to 460+ C or pressure approaching 93 bar would do some irreparable harm to the integrity of the space suit, allowing boiling hot sulfuric acid into your lungs.. yummy.

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