in the episode "inferno", when they are transporting people, they said that their air supply is finite, what makes up their air system. how can they not have an infinite supply of air. cant they just recycle it. i mean submarines are underwater for what like 6 months at a time and they just recycle their air. if anyone can clear it up, please
-
-
I think they mean that there is a maximum amount of people that the Life support system can handle at once. Like its recycling at a rate that can handle 500 people breathing at once but if it goes over that you start to run out of oxygen. -
Submarines take oxygen from the seawater however, in a complicated process.Originally posted by apollo22 View Post
Comment
-
I was on a submarine around 20 years ago. The oxygen is manufactured from water by electrolysis with the hydrogen vented overboard. The carbon dioxide is scrubbed out of the air with amines and the concentrated co2 vented overboard. Water is about the densest form of oxygen there is (and good shielding) but having enough to go indefinately would be hard on a spaceship. I'd like to think that a ship with the capability to reach another galaxy in 3 days would be able to convert co2 into oxygen and periodically dump a large quantity of carbon overboard.Comment
-
What was meant is that the CO2 scrubbers couldn't handle more than the maximum the ship was meant for otherwise the air would run out as it wouldn't be able to be reused fast enough.
Vala,Comment
-
While you can recycle air a lot, there is a finite amount of times it can get 'scrubbed' before needing to replace the scrubbers... That is one of the reasons subs have to come up every so often...Originally posted by apollo22 View PostComment
-
Well now we haveSpoiler:
But some hanging baskets around the ship and maybe some potted plants could also work lolsigpic
Banner Made By Me for Me 
The Red Team proudly supports Stargate: Universe, Suck it BlueComment
-
You have a point there about the plants. There have been experiments done with self-contained ecosystems, including people. The one I'm thinking of was a very big experiment and lasted for a few years before it failed due to a compost heap producing too much carbon dioxide for the plants to recycle. I think an algae bloom started, but they cracked the seal and brought in fresh air before anyone died.Originally posted by MechaThor View Post
At the very least, hanging lots of plants would extend your life support system's usability.
Somewhat off topic:
I once grabbed a bunch of mud and water from a local pond and sealed it with wax in three one gallon jars. I had a bunch of little aquatic bugs and stuff in there that hatched out of the mud, including snails.
My control jar was just the mud + water, straight up.
The other two had a foreign species of snail introduced to test the effect of adding a species to an ecosystem.
They lasted about two months before I accidentally gave them too much sun and all three jars went through an algae bloom. The snails seemed to be the only thing that survived (they can eat algae).
The jars made the perfect pet(s): very low maintenance, just keep out of direct sunlight and then watch the buggers swim around trying to eat each other and stuff. I still have no idea what all the little things were, but they were fun to watch and the setup for the three jars was only about $40.Mammals suck!
"Real men don't need inertia dampers."
Check out my GURPS campaign setting wiki, Islands of War!
Stop sending me friendship requests. I will deny them all, regardless of who they come from.Comment
-
HOLY CRAP!! I so wish I read what you just wrote 2 years ago when I had to do a student research project. I wish I thought of that...Comment
Comment