Would you freeze in space?

[layman77]

This is what I've been wondering. I got some answers from this web page

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=741

 

But, there are some other things I'm wondering about. It says you won't freeze immediately in space because of the vacuum, but why would you freeze at all? I thought vacuum is basically the ultimate insulator. Heat always moves from something hotter to something colder, but if there's nothing for it to move to, there's nowhere for the heat to go and it would stay hot. I can also see why something could get hotter because it is exposed directly to the sun's rays, but wouldn't that depend on how far away you are from it?

 

Why is it that there are cold things in space, like how on Pluto the ice is a lot colder and harder than granite, assuming something can't get colder in space? I'd understand that it's far out and doesn't get much or any sunlight, but it can't have retained all the heat it's always had, otherwise it wouldn't be cold.

 

Also, wouldn't the vaccum make your lungs collapse, or at least take all the gases out of them? Gases fill the volume of their container, and vacuum "sucks" it into itself, so wouldn't it take the air right out of your skin, mouth nose and any other body openings, causing your internal spaces to collapse?

[insane_alien]

it is a very good insulator but heat can be transferred by thermal radiation. you will get colder but very very slowly.

 

infact, if you were kept alive by an oxygen supply and something akin to a wet suit to apply some pressure to you you would die of overheating first as your body would be producing more heat than can be carried away by radiation.

 

it probably wouldn't cause your lungs to collapse as your body will not expand that much, they will shrink(after an initial expansion as your chest tries to explode).

 

pluto is cold because it has been in space for ages, it has had time to cool down.

[layman77]

it is a very good insulator but heat can be transferred by thermal radiation. you will get colder but very very slowly.

 

infact, if you were kept alive by an oxygen supply and something akin to a wet suit to apply some pressure to you you would die of overheating first as your body would be producing more heat than can be carried away by radiation.

 

it probably wouldn't cause your lungs to collapse as your body will not expand that much, they will shrink(after an initial expansion as your chest tries to explode).

 

pluto is cold because it has been in space for ages, it has had time to cool down.

 

Thermal radiation is when photons are emitted from the electrons dumping their extra energy, what if no electrons in your body were producing extra energy to emit. Contrary to popular belief, Infrared is not heat exactly, heat is just the electrons moving faster due to an energy increase.

[insane_alien]

not quite.

 

look up blackbody radiation and its causes.

 

you are talking about photon emission from excited electrons, that is NOT what is happening hear. and i never said photons were heat, i just said they transmitted it. stand outside on a sunny day and you'll see evidence of that(the side of you facing the sun will get warmer)