MovieChat Forums > Sunshine (2007) Discussion > Freezing in vacuum?

Freezing in vacuum?

posted 9 years ago by aljosssa-451-651422
13 replies | jump to latest

I do not understand it.. people froze in seconds in outer space at -273 degrees Celsius, but when they were diving in a freezing cooling medium (of the computer) and they could survive for minutes.

It should be the other way around.. i think in vacuum-space you would definitely die, but because of under-pressure in 10 or something seconds, but it should take minutes to freeze.
But already swimming in 4 degrees Celsius cold water is mortal in few minutes.

At the beginning of the movie he just dropped the tool into liquid and his hand was "iced". It can be that the cooling was turned off (sabotaged), but it should take hours for such medium to gain the temperature - without heating.

[–] adaniel87 9 years ago

4°C is 39.5°F. You would not literally freeze in that water/liquid ? you would very quickly succumb to hypothermia, yes, but not frozen.

Spending any time in an environment even remotely close to absolute zero (-273.15°C), you would without question freeze pretty quickly.

[–] aljosssa-451-651422 9 years ago

without question... I am not sure about this. if you have no medium no contact to cold materia you do not loose temperature, there is no transition of heat (sorry..I do not know the precise english technical words here).

and yes, you you would not freeze in 4 degrees, but the cooling mediums of supercomputers would be/is colder than 0 degrees celzius.

[–] mikebos 9 years ago

Ummm... cold water is not -273C. It might help you to know that the "coolant" that Chris Evans' character was in was actually freezing water. Danny Boyle wanted to make sure his reaction to it was realistic, so they actually put him in freezing water. Evans deserves an award for that part alone.

[–] aljosssa-451-651422 9 years ago

Cold water not, but if I would be cooling a computer I would not use water.. a super computer would be cooled by a coolant that can handle colder temperatures..car antifreeze or pure alcohol can go eazily to -40 degrees celsius.

Chris Evans was maybe swiming in cold watter, but the movie implied that temperature was much colder (-40 degrees for example).. and no one would last a minute in such conditions.

My opinion is that he would freeze in seconds in this medium and ..
in vacuum first pass out and die and later slowly freeze.

[–] TerraFirma69 8 years ago

I've been in -40 degree temperatures (industrial freezer) and that was bad enough. I cant imagine you'd even be able to function for more than a few seconds in liquid that cold. I imagine the heat would pour out of your body like liquid from an upturned glass.

...then whoa, differences...

[–] aljosssa-451-651422 8 years ago

Air alone is not a problem... I was working in Vladivostok for 2 weeks in January.. it was -20 to -40 all the time. I had absulutely no problems.

but water at 3 degrees is already a problem, -20.. forget it, your fingers would be gone in seconds. I just do not know how fast a piece of meat or some other product with water would freeze in vacuum and -270 degrees.

[–] TerraFirma69 8 years ago

Yeah of course, minus 40 in the air is fine when you're prepared and dressed for it. The only time I've ever experienced temps like that was as I say in an industrial freezer and I was dressed for the 30+ degree climate outside and it was a bit of a shock going from one to the other.

As for a vacuum, my physics knowledge is too limited to say. There's no medium to carry heat away from your skin (unlike air or particularly water) and it's not as if you're radiating energy away in the form of light or anything. The whole experience would be extremely unpleasant in any case lol.

...then whoa, differences...

[–] zender8584 8 years ago

Actually, you ARE radiating energy away in the form of light, light in the infrared range of the spectrum. And that's the only way you cool in a vacuum since conduction and convection are not possible.

The liquid coolant for the computer was more poetic license than the lack of freezing in a vacuum.

[–] TerraFirma69 8 years ago

Doh of course, that oft-forgotten low frequency light.

Nasty pressure issues and lack of anything to breathe aside, you're saying there'd be very little heat retention issues for a person in shadow in the vacuum of space?

...then whoa, differences...

[–] zender8584 8 years ago

The problem isn't the cold, it is the vacuum and lack of O2. But, primates can survive for a few minutes:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/survival-in-space-unprotected-possible/

The Anne Sellors fan club: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1856457/board/threads/

[–] VirtualMark 8 years ago

Think of the difference between 0°C(freezing point of water) and 100°C(boiling water). Think how cold ice is to touch, and think how hot boiling water is. That's a difference of only 100°C, and both extremes are inhospitable to humans.

Now think of -273°C. You can't can you? That's because it is unimaginably cold. At that temperature, there is no movement at all in any of the atoms, the material is completely frozen. It's as cold as cold gets. And it's almost 3x the difference of our ice and boiling water example. It's horrendously cold, and we never experience anything close to it in real life. Not even close. In fact it's pretty much impossible to get to absolute zero on Earth. We can get close in lab conditions, but not reach it.

Yes, you'd freeze solid at that temperature. No doubt about it.

You think that's air you're breathing now?

[–] aljosssa-451-651422 8 years ago

And yet... you have people going with hand into a cooling box with liquid nytrogen.. why can they do that? because if you do not touch the metal, liquid or ice, you will be OK for few seconds (not 1 or two but more like 10, 20.., maybe even more).
You can even put your hand in an oven heated up to 300 degrees celsius. If you do not touch the metal or food, you will be fine. Crazy ha? :) And this is more than 273.. and, I think (and know sice I work in metal industry) you can go much further in plus here.

Now take this to a different level. How long could you have your hand in an oven in vacuum? There is absolutely almost any heat transmition! And the same with cold!

And it is not impossible to get to absolute 0.. they get reaaaaaaaly close.. They get to 0.000 000 000 1 degree close to it (and even further).

I have been in Russia, Vladivostok and also other parts in Russia. I have been in savna and then out naked at -40 degrees. If the wind is not blowing, you are fine.

[–] VirtualMark 8 years ago

Yeah, wind chill is a huge factor in how fast you lose your heat. Obviously in space there's no conduction or convection, only radiation. So it'll take a lot longer to cool than it would on Earth(although at absolute zero there wouldn't be any atmosphere to speak of here either). But you would eventually freeze solid, once you'd died of course as your heat production would stop.

But yeah, you wouldn't instantly freeze like they did in this movie, unless you came into contact with something extremely cold.

I know that it's possible to get near to absolute zero, but not to actually get there, that's impossible. Getting close doesn't count. That's like saying it's possible to get to light speed - it isn't, but it's possible to get to a high fraction of light speed.

I won't be taking your advice and walking around Russia at -40 degrees lol.

You think that's air you're breathing now?