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From: pyron@skndiv.dseg.ti.com (Dillon Pyron)
Subject: Re: What planets are habitable
Message-ID: <1993Apr30.203330.8893@mksol.dseg.ti.com>
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References: <JPG.93Apr27135219@holly.bnr.co.uk> <1rpt1v$q5h@hsc.usc.edu> <C6Az8z.pD@zoo.toronto.edu>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 20:33:30 GMT


#reply#In article <C6Az8z.pD@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
#reply#>In article <1rpt1v$q5h@hsc.usc.edu> khayash@hsc.usc.edu (Ken Hayashida) writes:
#reply#>>As for human tolerances, the best example of human endurance in terms
#reply#>>of altitude (i.e. low atmospheric pressure and lower oxygen partial pressure)
#reply#>>is in my opinion to the scaling of Mt. Everest without oxygen assistance...
#reply#>>... This is quite a feat of physiological endurance...
#reply#>
#reply#>Indeed so; it's at the extreme limit of what is humanly possible.  It is
#reply#>possible only because Mount Everest is at a fairly low latitude:  there
#reply#>is a slight equatorial bulge in the atmosphere -- beyond what is induced
#reply#>by the Earth's rotation -- thanks to the overall circulation pattern of
#reply#>the atmosphere (air cools at poles and descends, flowing back to equator
#reply#>where it is warmed and rises), and this helps just enough to make Everest-
#reply#>without-oxygen feasible.  Only just feasible, mind you:  the guys who did
#reply#>it reported hallucinations and other indications of oxygen starvation,
#reply#>and probably incurred some permanent brain damage.

Climbers regard 8000 metres and up as "The Death Zone".  Even on 100% Oxygen,
you are slowly dying.  At 8848m (Everest), most climbers spend only a short
period of time before descending.  I've been above 8000 once.  Descending as
little as 300m feels like walking into a jungle, the air is so thick.  Everest
in winter without oxygen, no support party (Alpine style).  That is the
"ultimate challenge" (or is it solo?)
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