What would happen if a spaceship got a hole in it?

Question

So I was watching Doctor Who, and they keep getting holes in their spaceships but nothing happens because they have a force field. What if an actual spaceship (From Earth and no force field) got a hole in it? Would you be sucked through the hole? Would you slowly die from lack of oxygen? Would you explode from the pressure change? Also, I was wondering, what would happen if you stepped out of a spaceship without a space suit on?

Thank you.

Answer 1

"A hole in the bucket dear Liza, dear Liza !

A hole ..."

In the end while trying to fix it Liza (or Lizard, it hardly matters) & her man would get back to the hole again. Vacuum will be sucked inside making it all a vacuum chamber without an iota of an air particle. You can imagine the rest.

Answer 2

A tiny hole would trigger pressure alarms as the air began escaping. It could be sealed easily. A hole as big as a basket ball would be a disaster in the ISS unless you immediately sealed the hole with your bum. Air leakage around your bum would be much slower and maybe that would give your crew mates time to find something to seal the hole from the outside. The pressure at 5 pounds per square inch holding you against a 12 inch circular hole is 565 pounds so your crew mates can't haul you off the hole until it is sealed from the outside.



You would die in 3 minutes from lack of air unless you can restore the atmosphere.



Outside unprotected you die in 3 minutes from oxygen starvation to the brain, not to mention the vacuum sucking at your skin and lungs, rupturing capilliaries. It would be a painful death. If you hold your nose and mouth closed with your hand you might be able to retain some air in your lungs

Answer 3

With a spacesuit on, nothing, you'd just float until you ran out of air, then you'd die. If a hole burst, and you didn't have a suit, you'd get sucked out the hole and die immediately from suffocation. No exploding or anything though.