posted
I think they've probably got a third pod stashed away somewhere...at least, I think it would make sense if they did. It seems like you'd want a backup in addition to your two "on call" pods. If they don't have a third one, my guess is that they at least have enough parts to build one.
Decompression hasn't ever really been done all that realistically in Trek, I don't think. It's not just a lack of oxygen involved. The pressure and temperature changes would almost certainly be fatal. But then, I'm no expert.
Reminds me of the Stargate ep where they were trying to rescue Teal'c and O'Niell from a run away death glider and they had to jetison into space before the ring transportrs could grab them. But it was ok because it was "only for a few seconds"... I never really bought that.
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Everything I've read about being exposed to vaccum suggested that you could survive for as long as you could go without oxygen, but depending on where you were you might have a really bad sunburn. Probably some bruising from burst capilaries, but nothing too bad for the brief time Archer was exposed. It's also better to expel your breath than to try to hold it, so as to lessen the pressure problem.
[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: Ryan McReynolds ]
posted
I would have suspect that there'd be a good deal of radiation in an area like that, shouldn't Archer have caught a few rads when the doors opened?
You exhale when faced with a vacuum, otherwise your lungs explodes. Or so they say.
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quote:Originally posted by Ryan McReynolds: Everything I've read about being exposed to vaccum suggested that you could survive for as long as you could go without oxygen, but depending on where you were you might have a really bad sunburn. Probably some bruising from burst capilaries, but nothing too bad for the brief time Archer was exposed. It's also better to expel your breath than to try to hold it, so as to lessen the pressure problem.
[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: Ryan McReynolds ]
I think 2001 got it right, and it agrees with what you say. Remember Dave Bowman blasting the hatch on his pod and blasting himself into the Discovery airlock? Everything I've read indicates that you could survive in a vaccum for a while, but it would be a very unpleasant way to go if you didn't get some pressure back real fast.
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In TNG's "Disaster," we see Dr. Crusher and LaForge decompressing the cargo bay. They survived (but barely). Dr. Crusher also explained the consequences of being in a vacuum. If I recall correctly, there's a great force on the lungs to exhale, bursting of the surface capilleries of exposed skin, and disorientation from the lack of oxygen to the brain. When it comes to television and movies, they're still confused on what happens in to the human body in a vacuum. Knight Rider, for instance, portrays it as causing the body to explode. Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Event Horizon have shown it to be tolerable for a short while.
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posted
J-38 wasn't mentioned in the episode (besides, that would imply J-deck, which is about two stories below the sensor dome). No idea where t.e. pulled it out of. Silik snuck into the ship's guts at Service Junction 59 on B deck, which Tucker pointed out on the first canonical side-cutaway we've seen (which looked pretty damn close to Bernd's).
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OnToMars
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posted
It would be physically impossible for Archer to not only have held on to the gantry against the force of the vacuum, but to pull himself up from a hanging position. Likewise, it would have been impossible for Bev and Geordi to hang on to that ladder or whatever it was.
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posted
Alien spoilers $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ At the end of the movie, when Lt. Ripley sends the alien into deep space, she fastens herself into her chair with a harness. After harnessing herself, she opens the life pod's doors. The force of this action can be seen as she is nearly torn from the deck from the ship's interior. I think this and 2001: A Space Odyssey are the most accurate, speaking as a hypothesis, as to what happens when the interior of a ship is exposed to space. Thankfully, no astronaut has ever had to face this situation in the past decades of space flight.
[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: targetemployee ]
posted
We might also give some credit to Trek, and specifically "The Naked Now". Thankfully, we did not see the scene where the bridge crew of the Tsiolkovsky was ejected into space, but Data did make it clear they were "blown" out, not "sucked".
What is trying to pull you into space is the expansion of the air that is behind your back when you face the vacuum. If you are close to a wall, the force will be negligible, as in the Trek cases of "Covenant" (where the victim was pressed flat against first the inner door, then the floor) and "Disaster" (where the victims stood close to the inner wall, and the cross section of the bay was so huge that air could easily escape past them. And once the air is gone, so is the force that might shove you out.
Even in "Cold Front", I suspect hanging on to a railing would be significantly more plausible than hanging on to the wing of a flying aircraft, James Bond style. And people can "walk" (or crawl)on aircraft wings in real life, climbing up from the cockpit to the wingtop support pole and back in an airshow spectacle. Fighting air resistance might not be quite as hard as it seems. Not that I'd try...
posted
Didn't he only pull himself up after the pressure had been equalized? The launch bay was sealed, so once all the air had flowed out, he wouldn't have had a problem moving about.
But still must be a pretty strong guy to have held on as long as he did, as well pull himself through the exit doors as he did. I wouldn't call it 'impossible' by any stretch.
posted
Y'know, come to think of it, there's really no difference between being "blown" and "sucked" (commence giggling...cease giggling). I mean, when you use a straw to drink something, you'd say you were "sucking". However, all you're doing is creating a vacuum.
So, the liquid gets "blown" into the vacuum of your mouth just like crewmen get "blown" into the vacuum of space.
Or, the liquid is "sucked" out o the cup by the vacuum of your mouth just like crewmen are "sucked" out of the ship by the vacuum of space.
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