"...His last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil."

[CharlieKilo]

Hello everybody. I joined this forum after reading pages like this explaining how we could survive short exposures to space.

One of the most grisly side effects is the saliva and eye fluid would boil (due to zero pressure, their boiling point would be much lower). What would that feel like? Am I right in saying that it wouldn't actually cause burn damage, because the fluid wouldn't be high temperature?

[eburacum45]

My personal impression is that the boiling fluid would feel cool, or even cold, just like evaporating methanol feels cold on your skin. Once the water had boiled away, presumably you would be insulated by the vacuum, so despite the anoxia, pins and needles and agonising internal gas pressure, you wouldn't feel cold any more.

[ravens_cry]

Burn? No, but you could get something like freezer burn from water loss, though by that time your probably meat anyway.
And yeah, cold would be my thought as well.
We do have someone we can ask by the way.

[CharlieKilo]

Thanks, guys! Very educational. The video was great!

[John Xenir]

Would the same happen on Mars, or 1/100th atmosphere would lead to different scenario?

[ravens_cry]

Well, some of the lower parts of Mars *are* technically above the triple point for water, but only barely, so the heat of the tongue would likely cause it to boil away anyway, and I doubt you wouldn't still suffer almost, if not exactly, the same issues of low vacuum.

[eburacum45]

Mars's atmosphere is so thin that it would be pretty much the same as a vacuum. Even the wind-devils and dust-storms would be pretty much intangible, although you might find the dust itself an annoyance.

[BigDon]

One time some people and myself were messing with things best left unmessed with by the likes of us and managing to put such a draw on the room we were in it pulled open a partially dogged door.

Doesn't sound like much to a layman but I bet when Geonuc or Captain Swoop read that they go Damn!

but before the two dogs failed and the door slammed open my eyes got real big, my tongue bulged out and for all the world it felt like I had a chest burster under my sternum trying to push its way out.

We didn't muck with that thingy anymore after that.

[Daggerstab]

One time some people and myself were messing with things best left unmessed with by the likes of us and managing to put such a draw on the room we were in it pulled open a partially dogged door.

You've actually told that story, here:
http://www.bautforum.com/showthread....17#post1259217

[CharlieKilo]

I enjoyed both versions of Big Don's story. It's funnier if you read this one before the link that Daggerstab kindly supplied.