reply to post by silo13
Naw, it wouldn't implode. There is virtually NO pressure in space, so there would be no external pressure to bear on the outer surface to crush it.
I used to take 1 gallon tin cans with screw on caps and use them to demonstrate air pressure. You put a little water inside (maybe an inch deep or so
in a 1 gallon paint thinner can), heat it to a good rolling boil, then take it off the fire and cap it. Then, just sit and watch. As the water inside
cools, and the steam condenses back into water, the pressure inside it drops, and reaches a point where the can seems to implode. Whats actually
happening is that as the pressure inside it drops, the pressure outside it bears down, and it's actually the outside pressure crushing it.
But in space, there isn't any outside pressure to do the crushing.
What would likely happen is that, if it were a slow 'leak', and the pressure equalized slowly, you would just end up with no pressure inside, as the
inside pressure leaked slowly out and tried to fill all of space. If it were a FAST leak, there's always the chance of structural failure cascading
at the leak site, causing what amounts to an explosion, from inside towards the outside.
Now, biological systems are another matter. Every cell in a body has internal pressure, to balance out the atmospheric pressure in the environment
around it. Otherwise, our bodies would implode. The integumentary system (skin and such) as a whole would probably stay intact, but individual cells
would probably rupture, and capillaries would leak, most notably around the weaker, more tender areas, like the eyeballs.
I've heard, but ain't sure, that lungs will emerge from the mouth through the throat, eyes will bleed, and eventually the body will freeze solid in
that condition.
I know, gruesome. It just is what it is.
In the case of Yydryl, we know her outer 'shell' is designed or grown, or however formed, to withstand the vacuum of space. We know this because she
hasn't exploded or ruptured cell membranes on her outer skin. Inside is another matter altogether. I suppose her insides
could be of the same
material as her outsides, or it could be more like normal biological tissue. I suppose that in the final analysis, that's really a call that you and
CindyMars will have to make.
[edit on 2010/5/7 by nenothtu]