Would breathing equipment be needed for a 'real' skybox ?

I find it rather entertaining to wear a space suit while working on the exterior of my skystation which is based at 700 metres...and I got to thinking - does any one know at what height in metres in 'real life' breathing equipment and then protective clothing would become necessary ?

Maybe any pilots or mountaineers out there could let me know....

You might have a headache for a day or two at 700 meters above sea level, but the air would still be oxygen rich. Sorry, no space suit or sherpas needed.

okay Im going to assume prim deprevation due to lack of oxygen and increased lethal multi spectrum radiation due to a hole in the primzone layer make space suits a necessity then

unless of course I have my Doctor Who pullover on

700 meters is 2296.581 feet or just under half a mile.
Mnt Everest is 29k feet
You don't really need oxygen until you get over about 20k feet or so (according to wiki).
I think yer safe in the skybox

Katt

Dont you believe it - those beings at the bottom of the lake in skin oasis are drawing off the outer atmosphere of the planet.....

Nope. Most ski resorts are far higher altitude than a mere 700 Meters. For example, Timberline Lodge in Oregon is at 1800 Meters. Certanly no need for any special equipment there, nor at 700.

Wikipedia suggests oxygen deficiency begins at 7,000 feet, or 2.1 kilometers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans



An oxygen equipment supplier suggested 10,000 feet, or 3. kilometers. Their page is more interesting than the wikipedia page: http://www.mhoxygen.com/index.phtml?nav_id=26&article_id=10 .

and to think I get out of breath going up steep steps

As a rule of thumb, it's perfectly OK to fly at altitudes of 10000 feet (just above 3000 meters) in an unpressurized aircraft. I.E, an aircraft where you just breathe the surrounding air.

You can still survive at higher altitudes, but some body functions like vision, 'intellectual ability' etc. might be impaired, which is why flight above this altitude should be pressurized.

At altitudes of about 20000 feet (about 6 km) pressurization or oxygen masks would be need to sustain life for an extended period of time.

When you fly in an airliner at cruise altitude (30000+ ft) , it is kept pressurized to what is equivalent to the air pressure at around 2500 meters or so.

At an altitude of around 30000 feet (slightly less than 10 km) the time of useful consciousness is maybe a minute or so. If you are not supplied with oxygen after that time, you will suffer brain damage and subsequently die.

If you were outside at this altitude, the temperature would be so low that you would need protective clothing to avoid frostbite.

A pressure suit (like a space suit) is not needed until you are at about 50000 ft. (just over 15 km).

Above this altitude the pressure is so low that liquids inside your body will appear to boil.
At around 63000 feet the blood will appear to boil at normal body temperature.

Definately an unhealthy environment to be in without protectice clothing.

There are plenty of towns in Colorado that are around 7,000 ft above sea level and a few that are at 10,000 ft. Your body starts producing more red blood cells to help with the transport of oxygen as you acclimate to that altitude. You don't need any special equipment to live at those altitudes. Low landers do risk altitude sickness if they try to do too much at altitude. They also get drunk faster at altitude so they'd be really cheap dates.

Makers of flight assists, skyboxes, aerial work platforms, etc. could include scripts to offer appropriate breathing, thermal protection, and pressure protection equipment based on altitude, rate of altitude change, etc.

I suppose the health value system could be modified to do damage to avatars based on altitude, with an appropriate acclimitization factor for those who spend all their time in high altitude skyboxes.

The mountain the I routinely ski is 10,600 ft (3231 meters) at the base and 13,010 ft (3965 meters) at the summit. In the early season I will sometimes get a bit short of breath, but have never needed any sort of special equipment for breathing. By the end of the season, it doesn't even phase me.

Lol. 700m isn't that much.
1 meter = 3.2808399 feet
700*3.29ft = 2303 ft | 5280ft = mile

So it's about half a mile up. Absolutely no breathing equipment.I live around that elevation lol.

the entire city of denver is over twice that high

Here you go, the requirements for a general aviation pilot. Without oxygen they get a little stupid. The cabin does not have to be pressurized, oxygen just needs to be available. This might help:

Supplemental Oxygen for the General Aviation Pilot
(What you don't know might kill you)


At a recent West Valley Flying Club mountain flying seminar, one of the participants wondered if density altitude affected the requirement for supplemental oxygen. At first glance the answer to the question appears relatively straightforward: the FAR's are based upon cabin pressure altitude, not density altitude. But, does the method of determining "altitude" really make a difference? Just how do altitude, oxygen concentration, and the pilot and passenger's physiology modify the need for oxygen? How much of a safety margin (if any) is factored into the FAR's?

The considerations in determining the need for supplemental oxygen may be divided into four broad categories: (1) what is legal, (2) what are the considerations that affect the amount of available atmospheric oxygen, (3) what are the physiologic considerations that influence oxygen requirements, and finally (4) how much oxygen is necessary for the safety of the pilots and passengers. In attempting to address each of these four categories, the discussion in this article will be limited to non-pressurized aircraft.

WHAT IS LEGAL?


The relevant FAR that defines what is legal reads:
91.211 Supplemental Oxygen

(a) General. No person may operate a civil aircraft of
U.S. registry —

(1) At cabin pressure altitudes above 12,500 feet (MSL) up to
and including 14,000 feet (MSL) unless the required minimum
flight crew is provided with and uses supplemental oxygen for
that part of the flight at those altitudes that is of more
than 30 minutes duration;

(2) At cabin pressure altitudes above 14,000 feet (MSL) unless
the required minimum flight crew is provided with and uses
supplemental oxygen during the entire flight time at those
altitudes; and

(3) At cabin pressure altitudes above 15,000 feet (MSL) unless
each occupant of the aircraft is provided with supplemental oxygen.

Until I moved house last year myreal life house was at near 500m above sea level. The precise point at which you will notice shortness of breath really depends on your fitness though, as repeated physical training causes an increase in the number of mitochondria in the cells in your muscles, which in turn makes them more efficient at using oxygen and therefore need less of it. At 700m, asthmatics might get a bit weezy, but otherwise healthy people will notice no difference whatsoever. What you really need to be concerned about is high wind speeds that may blow your skybox onto a neighbouring parcel.

I always wondered about the Sherpas that climb Mt Everest too. I finally heard that their hearts and viens are larger than normal, which probably allows more oxygen enriched blood to flow threw them.

I moved form 1332 ft to 5300 ft and it didnt seem to bother me a bit.

Sometimes the Resident really needs an Answer. Not just any answer, mind; *the* answer. How hard can it be?

First, it's a small planet. Considering that the width of four regions is a kilometer, the whole map is... I dunno. Really small. Like Toledo-to-Columbus small. So it probably doesn't have a very thick atmosphere.

And the days are really, really short. Especially the nights. So this thing must spin really fast, probably throwing off much of the thin atmosphere the poor little planet could otherwise attract.

And the highest peak is way, way lower than 700m, so that little hillock must be Mount Everest to-scale, so 700m must be stratospheric.

And the space station is obviously in geosynchronous orbit. It's gotta be *way* up there.

So, it's clear: servicing this space station from the outside requires a space suit. Space monkeys are, however, optional.

/me applauds Qie for bringing a note of realism into the conversation...

heretic!

everone knows that the world is flat and moving upward at a steady rate, and that the reasons for shorter nights is that the sun has a nearer orbit on the underside of the world, thus describing a smaller arc and providing less night than day...

and anyone who has been orbited knows that vacuum and density are just myths propagated by those crazies that insist on the whole "First Life" mythos... how could anyone take that nonesense seriously?

If the space station was full of water then one would need aqualung equipment when inside it.

So whether inside or outside, breathing equipment would be needed.

All very true. My experience of flying my airship at high altitude is that the ionosphere is at approximately 2500m. So I guess that means 700m in SL is the equivalent of about 25 miles up, back home on Earth.

I'm more concerned about the ozone layer. Does SL have one?

If so, it doesn't matter. The sun seems to orbit at around 500m, so well underneath where the ozone layer would naturally end up. And each sim has it's own.


I'm more concerned by what has happened to the original inhabitants of the planet. Evidence (abandoned ancient buildings for example - the most notable example being that enigmatic structure known as "Governor Linden's Chalet" suggests that a race of cruel but intelligent beings once thrived here. Did they destroy themselves with their own technology? Did a civil war break out? Did they evolve to become non-corporeal beings of pure energy?

We'll probably never know.

They left once Gambling was banned......