I know that Mars is rarely over freezing, and often nearly 200 below zero F. But how cold would it feel to an astronaut on Mars? The air is so thin, that it has almost no ability to suck the heat out of you. Water that is 33 degrees F feels much colder than air that is 33 degrees F because it is more dense. The air on Mars is almost non-existant. Mark Twain said the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco (where I live). But in San Francisco, it never gets lower than 55F in the summer. Why does San Francisco at 55degrees feel colder than Lake Tahoe when it's 10 degrees? Because San Francisco has a lot of moisture in the air, and a lot of wind. Its air just sucks the heat out of you quickly. But because Mars' atmosphere is so thin, it has no ability to suck the heat out of you. You will only lose the heat that your body radiates. I'm guessing that an astronaut would feel comfortable in just a heavy sweater under his spacesuit. Anyone know the answer?

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It is because we live near the north pole, so u still feel cold even with sunlight, after dusk, it will become even colder...

I believe its like -55F* to -57F* even with spacesuit

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We come without a thing and gone without a thing. We need simple life. A cup of teas and a couple of meals per day, that is good enough. And this is my standard of living.

When it is that cold thin air would hardly be a factor. :huh:
Major considerations of how cold it would feel include humidity, and wind chill factor. I don't think humidity would be an issue, since we are pretty sure Mars is now dry. Wind chill factors are not signifcant at more then -40 F. and/or with winds greater then 45 MPH. :blink:
Since we know it to be much colder then that, we can safely presume it would likely feel a lot like breathing and bathing in dry ice.
Which would freeze skin and lung tissue solid before you exhaled your second breath. : :blink:
In short, if you took off the helmut of your protective suit, you would be a dead human icecycle before you could fall over and hit the ground.

What do you reckon you'd die of first, then? If you took off your spacesuit on Mars, would you asphyxiate, freeze, or would your blood boil in the thin air?

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Spike
:)

Well, The air is so thin you wouldn't be able to take a breath and of course if you could you'd only breath Carbon Dioxide. So lack of Oxygen would kill you in minutes. A temperature on a warm day at ground level, where you'd be after you passed out from lack of oxygen might be in the 30 to 60 degrees F. range so you wouldn'r freeze right away. However the question now would be; would you drown in your own blood coming out of the capillaries in your lungs or die from lack of oxygen? Either way it would be a foolish experience to undertake.

Mickey

And after watching Total recall, particularly the last scene, it would probably be a very painful way to go.

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Damien,
International Baccalaureate Physics teacher
Optics, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Instrumentation Major
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