this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 34 points 2 months ago (5 children)

I've heard that basically everywhere you go in space you will die by overheating because your body can't radiate away the heat it generates. It's weird to think that you can die from literally being cooked alive in a vacuum with a temperature of 0 degrees (readers choice of units).

Temperature is one of the least intuitive things when really getting into the nitty gritty of it. One of my favorite things to prompt people with is to ask them what makes something twice as hot as something else?

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Temperature is the average speed of atoms, in space, what atoms?

Space isn't cold. It just isn't any temperature

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Right, so getting to that whole "temperature is a measure of average speed of atoms," what's the average speed of atoms in 100 degrees Celsius boiling water vs 100 degree celsius steam? Or for that matter any solid at any given temperature compared to any gas of the same temperature? See what I mean when I said not intuitive?

Also, even in a vacuum a thermometer will eventually settle on a temperature it'll just take longer to equalise.

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[–] GhostedIC@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Rather than reader's choice of units, it has to be Kelvin... 0F or 0C is warm in absolute terms.

[–] piranhaconda@mander.xyz 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

AcKsHuLlY it could also be in rankine

I'm being pedantic as fuuuuuck because I've never actually seen it used in real life. For those that don't know, it's similar to Kelvin in that 0 is actually absolute zero, but the degree step sizes are the same as fahrenheit

[–] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Rankine is used in chemical engineering calcs because a lot of US chemical plants are built in US Customary units and it's a lot easier to calculate in Rankine and keep everything in that system than try to convert back and forth between K and F.

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[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's exactly like being trapped in a thermos. But! There are space suit concepts that use an airtight helmet, but the rest of the body effectively is exposed to vacuum, supported and protected using a skin tight water-permeable fabric that prevents you from swelling up or burning in the UV. One of the benefits of this kind of space suit is that SWEATING WORKS IN SPACE!!! The sweat carries away heat (and further consumes it in the phase transition) when it instantly flashes to vapor, cooling one's body. Sweating is a human super power and we can leverage it to perform our own temperature regulation in a vacuum! I've always thought that was super cool.

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[–] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Instead of wasting our resources trying to terraform Mars, we should look for planets already in this "balmy zone" to live on.

[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 42 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You mean like not fucking up the planet we live on? That's impossible, you're insane.

[–] Arsecroft@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 months ago

We've had one planet, yes. But what about second planet?

"I don't think he knows about second planet, Pippin."

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Reaching mars is far more achievable than reaching another solar system.

[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago

Thankfully there's a planet already in the balmy zone in this solar system, and even better, it already has an atmosphere we can breathe!

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 4 points 2 months ago

Here's an idea, let's clean up our home.

[–] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (4 children)

The half of you not facing the sun would freeze, even on mercury it gets cold at night

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 27 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I will simply sit on an office chair and spin around like doner on a rotisserie

[–] warbond@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] huquad@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Now I want a chair

[–] Klear@quokk.au 7 points 2 months ago

You can do that without a chair in space.

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[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

If you've got even modest infrared insulation, though, your metabolism is more than enough to keep you from freezing. No convective or conductive heat transfer makes getting rid of heat more of a problem.

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[–] tomiant@piefed.social 13 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Space has no temperature. Space is a vacuum. Temperature needs things to jiggle.

[–] salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

The average temperature of the universe today is approximately 2.73 K (−270.42 °C; −454.76 °F), based on measurements of cosmic microwave background radiation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero

Cited from https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/09/25/947116.htm

[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Wonder how they calculated the "average" temperature. Was it weighted by mass or by volume?

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[–] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

That's purely academic. IRL what actually matters is “how big and reflective is the thing you're in”.

You'd get real hot real fast in a matte black space suit.

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[–] essell@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

But a thing in space is not a vacuum and is subject to heating via solar radiation

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[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago
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