The ESB Asteriod Scene

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2004-09-30 08:31pm

If nothing else, trying to breath atmospheric-pressure air from a mask while in a vacuum would almost certainly kill you.

And since neither Han, Leia, or Chewie were killed, we can conclude that they DIDN'T try to breathe atmosphereic-pressure air from a mask while in a vacuum, can't we?

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-09-30 09:26pm

nasor wrote:Face it, this is one of those really stupid scenes that only serves to illustrate the scientific ignorance of the script writers. If nothing else, trying to breath atmospheric-pressure air from a mask while in a vacuum would almost certainly kill you.

Probably. Just like taking a deep breath 30 meters under from a scuba tank and rising straight up will kill you as the air expands. I might be wrong about vacuum though.

But the air in the mask may not have been atmospheric pressure.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-09-30 09:27pm

McC wrote:
Praxis wrote:However, wouldn't there still be a complete lack of heat in space? So wouldn't they still freeze when they stepped out?
I might be way off with my understanding here, but you won't actually freeze to death that quickly in space. The reason is that while space is "cold," heat transfer in space (other than radiative) is very difficult, since there's no medium through which to transfer that heat. It's cold outside because of the wind and the relative energy of the particles. It's hot outside for the same reason. In space, though, there aren't very many particles for you to feel "cold" from.

I emphasize that this isn't based on hard evidence, just stuff I've been thinking about on the topic.

Ahhh...interesting. But if you touched something like, say, an asteroid, that has almost no heat, it would probably turn your palm into frosty, correct?

nasor · Post by **nasor** » 2004-09-30 11:15pm

SPOOFE wrote:
If nothing else, trying to breath atmospheric-pressure air from a mask while in a vacuum would almost certainly kill you.
And since neither Han, Leia, or Chewie were killed, we can conclude that they DIDN'T try to breathe atmosphereic-pressure air from a mask while in a vacuum, can't we?

I guess, maybe. But then that raises some interesting questions about what the heck was going on. They flew into a crevice in the asteroid that was obviously open to space – by virtue of the fact that they were able to fly into it. The alien worm thing still had its mouth open as they were leaving, so there isn’t any obvious way that the crevice could have been sealed. So…

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2004-10-01 03:00am

Since there's no natural explanation, we simply assume that the Falcon "did something", such as extending its shield projection and filling it with a thin atmosphere. Ineffecient? I guess. Impossible? Don't see how one can say it's "impossible." Lazy? Yeah, we've already established that it's pretty lazy.

Sonnenburg · Post by **Sonnenburg** » 2004-10-01 09:15pm

nasor wrote:Face it, this is one of those really stupid scenes that only serves to illustrate the scientific ignorance of the script writers. If nothing else, trying to breath atmospheric-pressure air from a mask while in a vacuum would almost certainly kill you.

Perhaps Han reasoned that, since he could hear something out in the cave, there must be enough atmosphere for simply using the masks?