Will a corpse decompose in space or does a vacuum perfectly preserve a dead body?

Flynn_17

Vacuums will totally preserve anything, including food, as microbes have no way of survivng in a perfect vacuum. Dec 11 04, 10:57 AM

jbean

Maybe. A body begins decomposing from within, so it may be possible for decompsition to start. Dec 11 04, 11:06 AM

Baloo55th

Jbean is right that decomposition will start - but it will also stop fairly quickly as the bacteria freeze, as Flynn points out. How much decomposition depends on how fast the interior of the body reaches the temperature of space. A skinny body will freeze quicker than one with a deep layer of insulating fat. Dec 11 04, 2:29 PM

Arpeggionist

A body will only decompose if there is room and oxygen for bacteria to eat it. If there is no oxygen, or if it is too hot or too cold, there will be no decomposition. They found a 5,000-year-old body in the Alps some years ago that was completely intact. And in Pompeii they found people who had not decomposed beneath the 2,000-year-old volcanic ash in which they were burried. Dec 11 04, 5:26 PM