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Astronauts Attach Mannequin to Outside of ISS
lhouk281 writes "According to Space.Com, astronauts have attached a mannequin to the outside of the International Space Station to study the effects of radiation on the human body. The mannequin contains actual bone surrounded by simulated organs and synthetic skin, with sensors studded throughout." There's another story that has detail on how the spacewalk went: a suit malfunction caused the spacewalk to end prematurely.
I believe thats a myth.
There just isn't enough pressure in the human body to make it explode in a vacuum like you see in sci-fi films.
Here's how they do it:
The space mannequin's "skin" is a coat of multi-layer insulation containing thermo-luminescence dosimeters, detectors that glow in proportion to the amount of radiation they receive. Those detectors are distributed about every inch (2.5 centimeters) throughout the torso to give scientists a depth-dose profile of radiation exposure. (...) Encapsulating the Phantom torso is a protective canister of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic.
Read the truth here.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Here's the mannequin. I seriously doubt that they use human bones, since animal bones of comparable size would interact with radiation in the same way.
I'm not sure what you're suggesting with ground-up bones... an ossified version of particle board?
That synthetic skin would have to be really strong for this thing not to blow up due to low pressure, wouldn't it?
Actually the phantom is made up of several slices, about 30, stacked on top of each other on a central rod. (Think of the old baby toy.) The main material of the phantom is called RANDO(R). It's embedded with bits of bone and polyurethane to simulate organs. I believe the "natural bone" is ground up and reshaped into bone like structures.
To answer your question, there's really nothing to "blow up" during depressurisation. All of the phantom slices are solid with lots of cut-outs for radiation detectors.
- charboy
You really need to learn some physics.
Some points to consider:
1. the molecules don't 'know' whether there is a vacuum or not. They just feel an electrostatic force due to each other's proximity.
2. temperature and heat are two different things.
3. The boiling point is the temperature at which the vapour pressure of the liquid equals the ambient pressure.
When a liquid reaches boiling point, evaporation goes much faster (since it can occur throughout the liquid not just at the surface which leads to great heat loss, which means that the temperature cannot rise any further. So at lower pressures, the boiling point is lower.)
4. It's saturday and sunny out (at least around here it is), so instead of arguing about physics, it's far more fun to go outside.