Exposure to space environment: Freeze or burn?
(see also preceding question, #261(a)) I have always wanted to know what the temperature in space was. What I ask is: if an astronaut were to step out of the space station wearing nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, what would happen to him? Would he freeze or burn, or would it be room temperature? I know there is no oxygen but I don’t understand how there can be nothing. I hope that you can explain this to me. Reply The temperature of outer space varies, but the value does not matter much because the amount of matter sustaining it (and therefore, of energy involved) is tiny. See preceding question here, or http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/StarFAQ5.htm#q98 The moment a massive body (like your own) touches the rarefied gas of outer space, it and not the gas will determine the heat flow around it. “If a astronaut were to step out of the space station wearing nothing but a t-shirt and jeans,” I suspect he would first choke (all the air will escape his/her lungs) and then after a while he/she wou
