Re: Explosive decompression - how fast?

On 2008-04-26, Russell Wallace <russell.wallace.nospam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> an airliner at altitude, will cause everything that isn't nailed
> down - including people who aren't strapped into their seats - to be
> quickly sucked out the hole. Is that description simply inaccurate,
> or is there a difference in the cases that I'm missing?

It is simply inaccurate.  Yes, decompression is dangerous, and if a
significant hole opens up the winds can be extreme.  But they're not
caused by the decompression!

It should be noted that an airliner at altitude is usually moving at a
significant fraction of the speed of sound through the air.  The air
doesn't just simply leave as it would in a vacuum, or if it were a
zeppelin cabin.

From the point of view of the aircraft, the air outside has kinetic
energy greater than any hurricane.  If a large hole opens up, part of
that can get _in_.


- Tim