Humans need oxygen to breathe. If there is not enough oxygen anywhere in the Solar System, death comes quickly. The only difference between the planets is whether their temperature or pressure kills us quickly.
Jennifer Glass, an associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences & Biological Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told Newsweek : “The Earth’s atmosphere today contains 20% oxygen. Without oxygen, there is no oxygen. , people will die of suffocation in about 7 minutes”.
Here’s what happens to humans on each planet, starting with the planet closest to the Sun.
Mercury
The fact that Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun indicates that it is not a hospitable planet.
On the side of Mercury facing the Sun, the temperature rises to 426⁰C. Meanwhile, at night, the temperature will plummet to -142⁰C.
Therefore, the death of a human on the cold side would be similar to death in space and could end in minutes. “If you’re on the hot side, you’re burned to death in seconds, and all the water evaporates from your body,” Glass said.
Venus
Venus’s thick atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect that causes its surface temperature to rise to about 464⁰C. According to NASA, the thick atmosphere also means that the pressure on the surface would be lethal. Unfortunately, it also has clouds of sulfuric acid.
“While struggling to breathe, people will burn from extreme heat and acid within seconds. At least it will be a quick death, but also a terrible death,” according to Ms. Glass.
Mars
Mars may offer the best survivability of any place in the Solar System, except Earth.
The planet has temperatures that reach 21⁰C, which is pleasant in the summer, although they will drop to -107⁰C at the poles.
However, even if a person were placed on the equator in the summer, they would not last long. The atmosphere of Mars is almost pure carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). This would make it one of the worst planets to die on.
“If carbon dioxide builds up in the blood of a person suffocated, they will experience intense shortness of breath before passing out and then die of asphyxiation. If their blood is diluted by breathing in a non-toxic gas. if there is carbon dioxide, eg hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, methane… the person will pass out for a few seconds, not feel short of breath, so death will be less painful, but they will still die within a few seconds minutes because of the lack of oxygen,” Glass said.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
The gas giants in the Solar System are grouped together because the process of dying is essentially the same, but can also vary depending on where your planet is from because they have no surface.
Being placed in the center of a giant mass of gas means that instant death can happen, without even having time to feel it.
For example, Saturn’s core is around 9,444⁰C, and the pressure at Jupiter’s core is so high it’s like having 160,000 cars stacked all over your body.
Temperatures range from -74⁰C on Jupiter to -165⁰C on Neptune.
“There’s no solid ground on the gas giants, so you just fall through them until you’re crushed under their intense pressure. Their atmosphere consists of hydrogen with some helium, methane and water, carbon dioxide, so at least when you’re frozen and crushed to death, you’ll pass out softer, not panicky from the increased CO2 caused by high levels of carbon dioxide like on Venus and Mars.” , Ms. Glass emphasized.
