Author Topic: Oxygen Tolerance  (Read 1297 times)

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Offline Balibar (OP)

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Oxygen Tolerance
« on: February 10, 2010, 08:09:49 AM »
This is a minor point, but given the desire for realism I believe it is one that should be made.  

Humans have a requirement for a minimum partial pressure of oxygen.  No change needed there.  There is a maximum partial pressure of oxygen above which oxygen is toxic.  While one might quibble that the partial pressure ought to be higher than 0.3 (0.5 is more likely correct), the concept is valid.  

I do not believe, however, that there is any requirement for the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere.  All biologic reactions are based on partial pressure.  The human body does not know how many other molecules are flitting about, nor does it care.  While I am not certain that physical reactions, such as combustion, are driven the same way, I suspect that is the case.  Reaction rates and equilibrium states are driven by Gibbs Free Energy which, for a gas, is based on partial pressure.  The presence or absence of other molecules has no effect.  This is not the case for solutions where concentration is key, but the analogue to concentration for a gas is partial pressure rather than % composition.  

There is a minimum requirement, however, for total pressure.  This is due to the effects of low pressure on boiling points and other state changes.  So you could get to a similar requirement based on total pressure.  Rather than having a maximum oxygen percentage of 30%, you could have a minimum oxygen partial pressure of 0.1, a maximum oxygen partial pressure of 0.3 (or 0.5) and a minimum total pressure of 0.33.
 

Offline James Patten

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Re: Oxygen Tolerance
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2010, 02:46:47 PM »
I suspect that colonists are kept in domed enclosures until the oxygen percentage gets below a certain point so that they don't accidentally cause firestorms that wipe out their community.  Remember that fire really likes oxygen.
 

Offline Another

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Re: Oxygen Tolerance
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2010, 08:36:02 AM »
1. Methane or Hydrogen + Oxygen atmospheres with at least 10% of both oxidizer and oxidizable always seem to me being a giant bomb waiting for a tiny spark  :twisted: . Same to a lesser extent for other combinations of fuel and aggressive oxidizing gases (F, Cl, ...).

2. Astronauts breath mostly pure oxygen for economic reasons and deep divers sometimes breath O2-He mixture with O2 concentrations at about 5% (that would be 1 atmosphere of O2 partial pressure at 200m underwater).

3. CO2 levels above 2%  at atmospheric pressure are toxic for prolonged exposure. Since the effects are associated with CO2 concentrations in blood it should also be dependent on CO2 partial pressure and not on relative concentration.

4. If you want to be able to drive a combustion based car on your planet or not have your aluminium and even iron catch fire you will probably need some neutral gases (N2) in 70-90% concentration range. Fire hazard IS a concern for modern space stations.

What of these currently applies to Aurora and what should apply is probably material for the Suggestions thread.