Editing Uncontrolled decompression (section)

==Myths==
===A bullet through a window may cause explosive decompression===
In 2004, the TV show ''[[MythBusters]]'' examined whether explosive decompression occurs when a bullet is fired through the fuselage of an airplane [[MythBusters (2004 season)#Explosive Decompression|informally]] by way of several tests using a decommissioned pressurised DC-9. A single shot through the side or the window did not have any effect – it took actual explosives to cause explosive decompression – suggesting that the [[fuselage]] is designed to prevent people from being blown out.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/05/southwests-scare-when-a-plane-decompresses-what-happens/|title=Southwest's Scare: When a Plane Decompresses, What Happens?|magazine=Time|author=Josh Sanburn|date=April 5, 2011|access-date=April 18, 2018}}</ref> Professional pilot David Lombardo states that a bullet hole would have no perceived effect on cabin pressure as the hole would be smaller than the opening of the aircraft's [[Cabin pressurization#Mechanics|outflow valve]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/103194084/the-deadly-result-when-a-large-hole-is-ripped-in-the-side-of-an-aircraft|title=The deadly result when a large hole is ripped in the side of an aircraft|work=www.stuff.co.nz|author=Michael Daly and Lorna Thornber|date=April 18, 2018|access-date=April 18, 2018}}</ref>

However, [[NASA]] scientist [[Geoffrey A. Landis]] points out that the impact depends on the size of the hole, which can be expanded by debris that is blown through it. Landis went on to say that "it would take about 100 seconds for pressure to equalise through a roughly {{convert|30.0|cm|in|abbr=on}} hole in the fuselage of a Boeing 747." He then stated that anyone sitting next to the hole would have about half a ton of force pulling them towards it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/how-could-a-passenger-get-sucked-out-of-a-plane-and-has-it-happened-before/news-story/ce94c6632b6f485fbccb05dd64b9bbee|title=How could a passenger get sucked out of a plane — and has it happened before?|work=www.news.com.au|author=Lauren McMah|date=April 18, 2018|access-date=April 18, 2018}}</ref> At least two confirmed cases have been documented of a person being blown through an airplane passenger window. The first [[National Airlines Flight 27|occurred in 1973]] when debris from an [[Turbine engine failure|engine failure]] struck a window roughly midway in the fuselage. Despite efforts to pull the passenger back into the airplane, the occupant was forced entirely through the cabin window.<ref name="auto2"/> The passenger's skeletal remains were eventually found by a construction crew, and were positively identified two years later.<ref name="auto1"/> The second incident occurred on April 17, 2018, when a woman on [[Southwest Airlines Flight 1380]] was partially blown through an airplane passenger window that had broken from a similar engine failure. Although the other passengers were able to pull her back inside, she later died from her injuries.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="nbcphiladelphia.com1"/><ref name="NYT on passenger"/> In both incidents, the plane landed safely with the sole fatality being the person seated next to the window involved.<!-- PLEASE AVOID INSERTING MORE POPULAR CULTURE REFERENCES UNLESS BACKED UP BY A SOURCE. SEE FURTHER AT Wikipedia:"In_popular_culture"_content --> Fictional accounts of this include a scene in [[Goldfinger (film)|''Goldfinger'']], when James Bond kills the eponymous villain by blowing him out a passenger window<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3039583.stm|title=Guns, Goldfinger and sky marshals|author=Ryan Dilley|publisher=BBC|quote=It's not all fiction. If an airliner's window was shattered, the person sitting beside it would either go out the hole or plug it - which would not be comfortable.|date=May 20, 2003}}</ref> and ''[[Die Another Day]]'', when an errant gunshot shatters a window on a cargo plane and rapidly expands, causing multiple enemy officials, henchmen and the main villain to be sucked out to their deaths.

===Exposure to a vacuum causes the body to explode===
{{See also|Effect of spaceflight on the human body}}

This  [[Urban legend|persistent myth]] is based on a failure to distinguish between two types of decompression and their exaggerated portrayal in some [[fiction|fictional works]]. The first type of decompression deals with changing from normal atmospheric pressure (one [[Atmosphere (unit)|atmosphere]]) to a vacuum (zero atmosphere) which is usually centered around [[space exploration]]. The second type of decompression changes from exceptionally high pressure (many atmospheres) to normal atmospheric pressure (one atmosphere) as may occur in [[deep-sea diving]].

The first type is more common as pressure reduction from normal atmospheric pressure to a vacuum can be found in both space exploration and high-altitude [[aviation]]. Research and experience have shown that while [[Effect of spaceflight on the human body#Space environments|exposure to a vacuum]] causes swelling, [[skin|human skin]] is tough enough to withstand the drop of one [[atmosphere (unit)|atmosphere]].<ref name="Barratt">{{cite web|url=http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2691.htm|title=No. 2691 THE BODY AT VACUUM|work=www.uh.edu|author=Michael Barratt|access-date=April 19, 2018|author-link=Michael Barratt (astronaut)}}</ref><ref name="Kruszelnicki">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/04/07/1320013.htm|title=Exploding Body in Vacuum|publisher=[[ABC News (Australia)]]|author=Karl Kruszelnicki|date=April 7, 2005|access-date=April 19, 2018|author-link=Karl Kruszelnicki}}</ref> The most serious risk from vacuum exposure is [[Hypoxia (medical)|hypoxia]], in which the body is starved of [[oxygen]], leading to unconsciousness within a few seconds.<ref name="FAA" >{{cite web|title=Advisory Circular 61-107 |url=http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/airman_education/media/AC%2061-107A.pdf|pages=table 1.1|publisher=[[FAA]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Flight Surgeon's Guide|chapter-url=http://wwwsam.brooks.af.mil/af/files/fsguide/HTML/Chapter_02.html|chapter=2|publisher=[[United States Air Force]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070316011544/http://wwwsam.brooks.af.mil/af/files/fsguide/HTML/Chapter_02.html|archive-date=2007-03-16}}</ref> Rapid uncontrolled decompression can be much more dangerous than vacuum exposure itself. Even if the victim does not hold their breath, venting through the windpipe may be too slow to prevent the fatal rupture of the delicate [[Pulmonary alveolus|alveoli]] of the [[lung]]s.<ref name="harding">{{Cite book | last1=Harding | first1=Richard M. | year=1989 | title=Survival in Space: Medical Problems of Manned Spaceflight | place=London | publisher=Routledge | isbn=0-415-00253-2 | url=https://archive.org/details/survivalinspacem0000hard }}</ref> [[Eardrum]]s and sinuses may also be ruptured by rapid decompression, and soft tissues may be affected by bruises seeping blood. If the victim somehow survived, the stress and shock would accelerate oxygen consumption, leading to hypoxia at a rapid rate.<ref name=czarnik>{{cite web |author=Czarnik, Tamarack R. |year=1999 |title=Ebullism at 1 Million Feet: Surviving Rapid/Explosive Decompressionn |url=http://www.geoffreylandis.com/ebullism.html |access-date=2009-10-26 }}</ref> At the extremely low pressures encountered at altitudes above about {{convert|63000|ft|m|-3}}, the boiling point of water becomes less than normal body temperature.<ref name="Barratt"/> This measure of altitude is known as the [[Armstrong limit]], which is the practical limit to survivable altitude without pressurization. Fictional accounts of bodies exploding due to exposure from a vacuum include, among others, several incidents in the movie ''[[Outland (film)|Outland]]'', while in the movie ''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'', characters appear to suffer effects of [[ebullism]] and blood boiling when exposed to the [[atmosphere of Mars]].

The second type is rare since it involves a pressure drop over several atmospheres, which would require the person to have been placed in a pressure vessel. The only likely situation in which this might occur is during decompression after deep-sea diving. A pressure drop as small as 100 Torr (13 kPa), which produces no symptoms if it is gradual, may be fatal if it occurs suddenly.<ref name="harding" /> [[Byford Dolphin#Incidents and accidents|One such incident]] occurred in 1983 in the [[North Sea]], where violent explosive decompression from nine atmospheres to one caused four divers to die instantly from massive and lethal [[barotrauma]].<ref>{{cite book|title=North Sea Divers – a Requiem|last=Limbrick|first=Jim|pages=168–170|location=[[Hertford]]|publisher=Authors OnLine|year=2001|isbn=0-7552-0036-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPp68NAoUF0C&pg=PA168}}</ref> Dramatized fictional accounts of this include a scene from the film ''[[Licence to Kill]]'', when a character's head explodes after his [[diving chamber|hyperbaric chamber]] is rapidly depressurized, and another in the film ''[[DeepStar Six]]'', wherein rapid depressurization causes a character to [[hemorrhage]] profusely before exploding in a similar fashion.