It is already known how low environmental pressure affects the human body. But how many people know what danger lies in explosive decompression at altitude? In a few seconds, the lungs are completely destroyed, blood pressure drops to the lowest limit, which causes inevitable death.
What is decompression
Decompression is a condition in which atmospheric pressure drops sharply. This happens if the airtightness of the aircraft is suddenly broken, or when the swimmer quickly ascends to the water surface. When people work in conditions where the pressure is several times higher than atmospheric pressure, when inhaled, gases are in a compressed state, which causes them to dissolve in tissues and blood in unacceptably large quantities. If it suddenly falls, foaming of gases occurs, as a result of which the movement of blood through the vessels stops.
When a plane or spacecraft collides with a meteorite or in an accidentsome important systems fail, explosive decompression occurs. This phenomenon occurs when flying at an altitude of more than nine thousand meters.
Decompression sickness
With decompression sickness, not only conduction in small vessels is disturbed, but also the rheological properties of blood, as thrombotic masses form on the surface of the bubbles, which is called aerothrombosis.
The ratio of the final atmospheric pressure to the initial one in one second is more than halved. There is an equalization of the sum of water vapor pressure with barometric and carbon dioxide. This becomes the reason that the oxygen content in the tissues approaches zero, and the human breath becomes nitrogen, not oxygen.
The clinical picture defines decompression sickness with gas embolism of the vascular system, which has three types:
- Circulatory disorders in the form of attacks of angina pectoris and myocardial infarction, a tendency to form blood clots.
- Severe itching, boring muscle and joint pain, subcutaneous emphysema.
- Failure of the functions of the central nervous system: nausea, vomiting, speech disorder, convulsions, paralysis.
- Acute heart failure as a result of the accumulation of gases in the cavities of the heart.
Effect of decompression on the body
Explosive decompression, like decompression in general, has a great impact on the human body. It should be noted some of its features. Too much actionbelongs to the pressure drop in the aircraft, as well as excessively high nervous tension due to an emergency. Explosive decompression is considered a powerful irritant that can greatly affect a person.
When such conditions arise, the pilot experiences fear and confusion for some time, as a result he makes irreparable mistakes, endangering the lives of passengers and his own.
Important pathogenetic factors in explosive decompressions
At an altitude of more than sixteen kilometers, the body is exposed to a whole complex of pathogenetic factors. These include: lack of oxygen, strong ultraviolet radiation, lower atmospheric pressure and cold.
Disaster victims are exposed simultaneously or in sequence to the following factors: shock and dynamic overload, lightning headwind and blast wave, thermal and atmospheric electricity, loose object injuries, shaking, vibration.
Impact effects: if a person is close to a cockpit with a large hole, he can be injured or, even worse, be thrown overboard. In fact, pushing a person through a hole is a rare case.
Hypoxia: As we know, air is composed of 79.02% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, and only 0.03% others, most of which is carbon dioxide. Water vapor is up to 5%. With an increase in humidity, the amount of nitrogen and oxygen becomes 1-2% less.
Significant reduction of them in the atmosphere often leads to hypoxia. Even being at a low altitude (about one and a half thousand meters), a person will definitely experience some decrease in sensitivity to light. A vivid example of this is that when moving from a bright room to a dark one, a dimly lit object is difficult to see.
The most important pathogenetic factor inherent in explosive decompressions is the strong cooling of the pilots' body. This especially affects less protected areas of the body: arms, legs, face, since air with a temperature of 56 degrees causes frostbite fairly quickly.
Explosive decompression of an aircraft
At altitude during decompression, there is a complete loss of crew performance in a matter of seconds. They can hear some sound, but at that moment death already comes. There is no way to send a distress signal to the dispatcher.
When the tail section of an airliner is being destroyed, passengers have no chance of surviving, everyone dies in one moment. Nothing will be able to help, as complete inoperability sets in. These are the consequences of an aircraft's explosive decompression.
If the flight attendant suggests wearing an oxygen mask, you need to do this, since the air at high altitudes is very rarefied. And if complete decompression occurs, the lungs will not provide the brain with oxygen due to a strong load, dizziness and fainting will begin. The people on the plane lose consciousness literally seconds afterforty.
Main symptoms of explosive decompression
Explosive decompression has eight main symptoms:
1. As a result of the increase in the volume of air that is in the lungs, the chest expands instantly. Eyewitnesses of decompression compare this phenomenon to a blow to the chest.
2. Filling with gases of the intestines and stomach, followed by bloating - the so-called high- altitude flatulence.
3. Severe pain in the paranasal cavities and in the ears.
4. Uncontrolled bowel movements and urination, severe incessant vomiting.
5. Impact emission from the anus of gases, and from the nose - air.
6. Severe joint and muscle pain as a result of tissue ischemia caused by gas embolism of small vessels - high- altitude pain.
7. Due to the fact that the separation of sweat increases sharply, there is a feeling of severe freezing.8. Within two minutes of explosive decompression, people begin to convulse and go into a coma.
Explosive decompression barotrauma
Damage to the organs of the body as a result of the pressure difference between the internal cavities and the external environment is called barotrauma. It occurs when divers descend to great depths, during takeoffs and landings of aircraft. Everything that happens during explosive decompression is fraught with great dangers, one of which is barotrauma.
The following organs are susceptible to barotrauma during explosive decompression:
• Hearing aid.
• Lungs.• Hollow organs.
When hearing aid barotrauma ruptures the tympaniceardrum, the auditory ossicles are damaged, hemorrhage occurs in the ear tissue and the tympanic cavity.
With barotrauma of the lungs, liquid blood is present in the airways, the lungs swell to the limit, there are focal ruptures with hemorrhages of the lung tissues.
As a result of an increase in the volume of gases in the stomach and intestines, they rupture - these are manifestations of barotrauma of hollow organs.
Explosive decompression causes of death
Sudden death from explosive decompression, as reported in the literature, occurs as a result of shock, tissue emphysema, due to which there is a "ramming affect" of gases. But hypobaria in this case has nothing to do with the tragedy. Evidence whether there is a direct relationship between the tolerability of rapid hypobaria and the size of subcutaneous emphysema has not yet been found.
Gas embolism undoubtedly plays a large role in death during explosive decompression, although it is not decisive.
In 1970, the author Lukhanin identified the main factor in rapid mortality in hypobaria - anoxia.
Preventive measures
Measures to prevent explosive decompression at altitude must be taken seriously, putting the priority on saving the lives of passengers and aircrew.
Key preventive measures:
1. Ensuring the tightness of the aircraft.
2. Organization of fast air blowing into the cabin when it is depressurized.3. Special clothingpilots must be tightly fitted to the body.
You should know that wherever and wherever you fly on an airplane, there is always the risk of an accident, in which explosive decompression is the first threat to life. It is she who leads to imperceptible, but significant irreversible consequences.
