Could You Make A Space Suit From Duct Tape?

"Does duct tape work in a vacuum? You may ask. The answer is, of course it does. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped."

TO SHOW YOU THE POWER OF FLEX TAPE, I MADE A SPACE SUIT OUT OF IT

Just finished 'For All Mankind' and i laughed when they took out the rolls of duct tape. One thing though, during the scene you could see the tape coming off or unraveling and blood boiling off into vacuum. Can't imagine the agony that must feel like.

10:22 "you don't need hundreds of rolls tape, you just need one or two" flips off the people who think you need hundreds of rolls

The problem with making a scene like this more realistic, is that more people would complain it is too far from reality...

“Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped” - Mark Watney

Red Green approves of this video.

Hey Scott, loved your analysis! I noticed something during the episode that might influence it. Molly mentions a time or two that they'll need to empty their lungs before going out. That mention, plus the lack of an apparent oxygen supply for their masks, seems to imply that Gordo and Molly are actually just powering through this thing with empty lungs, rather than getting any air from the masks. They appear to be using them as a rigid element to cover their faces and still have some visibility rather than life support. It seems like the lack of oxygen is the limiting factor to their time of useful consciousness, since the suits seem to do a decent job for what they are.

Hello, i am aneaesthesiologist and great fan of your channel, but I have to point out that you made a mistake. 4:34 you said that lungs will rupture and gas bubbles will go into the bloodstream causing embolism. That's not the mechanism of barotrauma - lugs will rupture and gas will break delicate structure of alveoli of the lungs causing pneumothorax - gas will enter the space between lungs and ribcage, and with each breath there will be more gas in this constricted space, essentially creating one-way valve, thus raising the pressure inside the ribcage, compressing the lungs and the heart. Veins entering heart and a part of the heart called atrium is very soft, so when compressed it will restrict the amount of blood, lowering the blood pressure and causing a blackout. Cheers from my nighshift!

- "Manufactured by Generic Plot Device Corporation" Hollywood should use that more often.

By far one of the best episodes ever made. Seriously. So many emotions, so much anxiety, and so much connection to 2 of the best characters ever written for screen. For All Mankind is FIRE. ACES. Perfection. Finally a show that has real emotion.

Thing is, those two characters didn't have oxygen masks . They just had gas masks poorly pressed against their faces in vain attempt to slow down desiccation of their eyeballs. However, upon decompression, the moisture would precipitate immediately and cover the mask with frost, rendering their view unusable. They did exhale air to prevent pulmonary rupture which doesn't make much sense if they already wanted the masks and tape to work. So in theory, running like 25 m there and back, to switch few cables and press a switch or two is possible, but it would require a lot of duct tape (they were poorly wrapped in the scene), mask held firmly against the face, probably some aluminium foil to prevent thermal damage to the tape, and breathing pure oxygen for few minutes before leaving. Injuries would be inevitable, as well as pain, but one could survive and likely stay reasonably focused during 15 s. The couple died because nobody administered emergency help after pressurization.

>"You don't use duct tape to fix your air ducts." >Proceeds to describe how to use duct tape to reinforce human air ducts.

In the show I don't even think they hooked up the face masks to an O2 tank. I think they just used it to protect their faces. That better explains why they only had 15s before loss of consciousness

That scene was heartbreaking and difficult to watch. At least for me.

What I've been learning over the years from various analyses of fiction involving exposure to hard vacuum, is that we consistently overestimate how deadly it is.

"Duct Tape is Magic and Should be Worshipped" ~M Watney. "Can you actually make a Space Suit out of Duct Tape?" ~S. Manley. "Why I actually HATE Duct Tape!" ~Adam Savage

Scott continues his tradition of flipping us off every episode at 10:26

How the hell this show went under my radar until just now is beyond me. I'm gonna start watching it tomorrow.

Wish Mythbusters was still on the air. I can totally see them doing this one with the help of NASA and an instrumented Buster.