Redesigning O Neill cylinders

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 15:39:44 -0600, Dave Logsdon wrote:
>
> From: millenial70 [mailto:bp164@...]
>
> "What about an oxygen-only atmosphere, at partial pressure? "
>
> 100% oxy would be a *major* fire hazard. Remember Apollo 1? :(

That was 100% oxygen at full atmospheric. He's talking about 100%
oxygen at a few psi.

The fire hazards there are a little worse than for nitrogen/oxygen,
adding nitrogen convects heat away better and thus inhibits the
chances of combustion slightly, but the hazards are liveable- Apollo
used it after all.

But for long-term life support I believe that adding some nitrogen in
is extremely desirable. IRC pure oxygen even at partial pressure tends
to damage lungs over time. It's not quick damage, but for breathing
for more than a couple of weeks you'd probably want to add the
nitrogen.

The ISS uses a mix doesn't it?

> Dave

--
-Ian Woollard

Professor Frink: "We studied traffic patterns and found that drivers
move the fastest
through yellow lights. So now, we just have red and yellow lights."