Questions tagged [atmosphere]
For questions about the gases which surround a planet or some other celestial body.
12
votes
5answers
2k views
50% O₂ 25% Neon 23% Nitrogen and 3% trace gasses?
Could an atmosphere of 50% O₂ 25% Neon 23% Nitrogen and 3% trace gasses be survivable for a human being at the similar or slightly less atmospheric pressures as Earth?
5
votes
5answers
2k views
What natural event could strip all of Earth atmosphere?
I was reading up on Mars thin atmosphere and was wondering how could Earth becomes like the red planet except it only has only 100 pascal (air pressure) at imaginary sea level? Mars is 600 pascal on ...
3
votes
3answers
124 views
What Muscles in the Human Body Could Produce a Flight Stroke?
I have an idea for a story where humans on a low g planet with a dense atmosphere wear artificial wings to fly. I know that muscles they would use to produce a flight stroke would be in the upper body,...
6
votes
6answers
431 views
Greenhouse Planet Terraforming - Will a balloon jacket self-stabilise?
Most of what follows is scientifically dubious. I'm looking to clarify one aspect and one aspect alone.
A small planet is being terraformed by an alien race who have been doing this for millennia. ...
2
votes
2answers
83 views
Human Shoulder Motion & Powered Flight
I have an idea for a story where human live on world with low gravity and a dense atmosphere. These humans have developed artificial wings that are attached to their arms so they can fly. Since the ...
12
votes
2answers
291 views
How to predict the color of this sky?
How can I predict the color of the sky based on the information provided?
Atmospheric composition:
| 2% Trace gases | 58% Nitrogen | 26% Oxygen | 11% Argon | 3% Carbon dioxide |
Average ...
0
votes
3answers
162 views
What amount of heat would be necessary to evaporate the oceans? Can his heat threshold be reached if there were no ozone layer? [closed]
The problem in my fictional future Earth was: almost the entire ozone layer disappeared due to a massive release of CFCs in the atmosphere. I was trying to calculate if this would lead to the oceans ...
5
votes
3answers
174 views
Airships in a world with 1/3 gravity but 3 times the mass of atmosphere?
In the first question I posted here on Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, I asked if lifting gas would be more effective on a world with 1/3 of Earths gravity but with the same atmospheric composition as ...
5
votes
2answers
236 views
How far can a human see?
I'm asking this question as a reference for use in worldbuilding when developing world size, atmospheric content, or alien optometric abilities (aka, vision).
While I'm specifically asking two ...
3
votes
2answers
119 views
Would an atmosphere of supercritical CO2 affect available light?
Many of you may have heard that supercritical CO2 (as in at just the right temperature and pressure to be in between gas and liquid) is a possible alternative solvent for life, like water is for us. ...
1
vote
2answers
103 views
Atmosphere density and visibility range [duplicate]
How far can you see through an atmosphere like the one we have on Earth?
The protagonist inhabits a huge world, like the inside of a sphere, a Dyson-sphere, with an approximate circumference defined ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
How much hydrogen and oxygen can I add to an atmosphere before it explodes?
Hydrogen and oxygen gases can be combined to form water and a lot of heat. As with many exothermic reactions, the heat from this process can provide activation energy to the reaction of more H2 with ...
1
vote
1answer
75 views
Is this planet's sulphur dioxide atmosphere feasible?
My planet is highly volcanic, as such the atmosphere is filled with gases put off by the volcanoes:
Like Earth Nitrogen also makes up most of Marhdii’s atmosphere at 43%. Also like Earth, Nitrogen ...
5
votes
1answer
103 views
Colonies in giant caves
My colonizing business found a small planet with about 0.8G. They would like to build the colony in the giant caves under the crust of the planet, due to the conditions of the surface,(little ...
-1
votes
3answers
75 views
Floating cities [closed]
Floating city in the atmosphere of a gas giant.
In this Scenario; My colonizing business finds a gas giant in the goldilocks zone. Some of the crazy engineers want to build floating cities in the ...
5
votes
6answers
1k views
How could someone ground a breathable synthetic atmosphere onto a small asteroid?
Let's say there are billions of asteroids in the galaxy, varying in size from baseballs to hunks of rock almost big enough to be dwarf planets. If someone wanted to set up a habitable location on one ...
16
votes
2answers
2k views
Argon Environment Spelunking
Monster Slayer Stan, we are in dire need of your help! The caves in our nearby mountain are filling up with a dense but non-toxic gas that is protecting a monster's nest. The monsters are weak but are ...
6
votes
6answers
340 views
Producing oxygen without plants
Obviously, current oxygen levels should last us years, so we are talking about a long-term solution.
Also, in this hypothetical scenario, plants have stopped releasing oxygen but haven't stop ...
5
votes
2answers
159 views
Which hydrogen halide to have in blood to replace water?
So I want to have an alien creature on a planet with a halogen atmosphere. It will have to be at a temperature where the hydrogen halide is liquid or solid.
This hydrogen halide I would have as the ...
6
votes
1answer
118 views
Making Titan's atmosphere transparent
I'm interested in what kind of events / processes would it take to make Titan's atmosphere more or less transparent.
The year is around 2150. The technology has progressed, sure, but it's nowhere ...
5
votes
2answers
200 views
Is it possible for an atmosphere to have gasoline mixed in it?
Is there such a thing as gasoline vapors, or some kind of gas that can be given off by gasoline? I'm trying to come up with a planet where the atmosphere is combustible and constantly catching on fire ...
20
votes
5answers
5k views
A very small part of an office building is gone, leaving vacuum. How does this affect its surroundings?
A small perfect sphere is suddenly gone. Everything inside is teleported somewhere -- through space or even maybe through time, we're not sure. It's a small sphere, just enough to fit a human sitting ...
4
votes
1answer
112 views
How can the Progenitors oxygenate a world?
The Progenitors are an ancient race of almost infinite technological sophisitication, who mysteriously vanished millions of years ago for no good reason (I don't like TV Tropes, but you are welcome to ...
-1
votes
2answers
103 views
Earth-like planet which is smaller but has the same gravity
If there were a planet similar to earth where the lines of latitude and longitude were half as far apart (about 35 miles instead of about 70), but the planet's density were increased to compensate for ...
20
votes
6answers
5k views
An iron rain to starve a planet
I have a generic Earth like planet, same atmospheric composition, and the same oceanic composition. The crust of this planet is predominantly silicon based but plenty of iron, nickel and copper. ...
2
votes
2answers
101 views
Necessary atmospheric conditions for humans to survive on other planets [closed]
So my question is about what the acceptable envelop of a planet's atmosphere would need to have to enable humans to live there.
As we all know, earth is comprised of a mix of 21% Oxygen, 78% ...
3
votes
1answer
50 views
High-atmosphere wind dangers on a rocky planet
What would be a good way to explain dangerous winds on a rocky planet like mars? I'm looking to create a dangerous situation for atmospheric pilots trying to land, specifically for sudden changes in ...
2
votes
4answers
212 views
Clouds on a planet surrounded by a giant “meridian” wall
I am writing a fan-fiction (thus the world that my story is set in is not mine though some modifications can be done in accordance to my story's timeline and setting in relation to the canon universe) ...
0
votes
1answer
63 views
Planet-sized creatures floating in breathable system-wide atmosphere
In the future, we created a Dyson Swarm.
Each node (which I'd like to call a Gigalga) is an asteroid-sized, biotechnological, space-adapted, sentient plant that speaks the same evolved language as we ...
10
votes
4answers
456 views
Prevailing winds on a rotating space habitat
A common, matter-efficient science-fiction habitat is a hollow cylinder or ring in space that is spun to simulate the pull of gravity on its interior surface. These habitats have been imagined as ...
0
votes
3answers
93 views
Conditional deniability of a natural asteroid belt with an atmosphere?
Is it unreasonable to suspend one's disbelief that an asteroid belt naturally formed with enough mass distributed through the belt to justify the formation of a belt-wide atmosphere given the ...
1
vote
4answers
274 views
How tall do atmosphere retaining walls on rotating space habitats need to be?
A common, matter-efficient science-fiction habitat is a hollow cylinder or ring in space that is spun to simulate the pull of gravity on its interior surface. These habitats have been imagined as ...
0
votes
1answer
135 views
How can a planet have an atmosphere in a universe full of water? [closed]
Imagine a universe where the space is not empty (or almost empty) but somehow it's full of water or other liquid.
How could planets still have an inhabitable atmosphere? What could make this "air ...
5
votes
4answers
328 views
Would a denser atmosphere hold in more moisture even if the temperature was exactly that of Earth's surface temperature? (Atmospheric Density)
(My world's details) I have a super-earth world. The surface of the world is shallower due to extra gravity, so shorter mountain ranges and fewer ocean depths. The world orbits a binary star system at ...
3
votes
3answers
119 views
How thick does an atmosphere have to be in order to make the sky “light up” during “daytime” human or near human ocular sensitivity?
If a planet were to have a very thin atmosphere how thick or thin would it have to be to allow there to be a daytime and a nighttime given human or near human ocular sensitivity?
In other words, ...
6
votes
1answer
437 views
How would this super-earth world be? (Creature evolution)
I have a super-earth world. The surface of the world is shallower due to extra gravity, so shorter mountain ranges and less ocean depths. The world orbits a binary star system at a distance of the ...
9
votes
2answers
129 views
Atmospheric mixing on walnut earth
Suppose we had an Earth-like planet based on Saturn's moon Iapetus. Iapetus has an equatorial ridge, 13 km high, which runs around it. Scaling that up to an Earth-sized planet, it would have a ridge ...
3
votes
2answers
144 views
What would happen if a spaceship had a total power failure in regards to the crew? [closed]
On a spaceship with a total loss of power, say for instance, because of a system failure or something, what would happen to the people aboard? Would they become hypoxic? And would it get warmer or ...
-1
votes
2answers
110 views
Is it possible for any creature to stay on an altostratus cloud without falling down? what are its limits?
I am working on a story. i want to know if is it possible for creatures like snake, eagle, vulture to stay on an altostratus cloud without falling down. if possible the limits on how much force and ...
6
votes
2answers
137 views
Reality Check: Planet with low gravity and water vapour
Using Artefaxian's excellent spreadsheet I have created a basic idea for my planet, but in the 'Stability Checker' part my low gravity planet is unable to hold H2O.
I am wondering if it is possible ...
0
votes
1answer
96 views
Using the atmosphere to increase the efficiency of rocket launches [closed]
Rockets are heavy because they need to transport the fuel as well as the oxidizer agent. For example, the hydrogen is the fuel and the oxygen is the oxidizer. The problem is it makes the rocket heavy.
...
3
votes
4answers
120 views
Is a balloon rocket launch pad possible?
Rockets consume a lot of fuel and carry not eough payload.
To reduce the fuel needed, why not send it in the mesosphere?
Imagine a big balloon, capable of carrying a small rocket to the mesosphere (...
2
votes
2answers
79 views
Looking for ideas for a world that requires some earth based mineral to be released into its atmosphere to render it non toxic to life as we know it,
Im busy wrtiting a Space Opera and was going to utilise the "hypothesis", or whatever you call it of an ancient civ mining gold here and utilising it to disperse into its atmosphere, in turn either ...
-1
votes
1answer
98 views
How does atmospheric density affect blunt force?
If one had three humanly habitable planets with the same gravity but different atmospheric densities due to composition, namely
Earth,
one with a denser atmosphere (about 1.5x as dense)
one with a ...
4
votes
4answers
222 views
Would this type of atmosphere be suitable for human life?
I've been trying to create a Earth-like planet but I'm not sure if my planet's atmosphere is breathable. (It's mostly the amount of helium I'm worried about).
I've tried to make it Earth-like while ...
1
vote
0answers
73 views
Life on oceans above the sky [closed]
The Leidenfrost effect is a physical phenomenon in which a liquid, in near contact with a mass significantly hotter than the liquid's boiling point, produces an insulating vapor layer keeping that ...
10
votes
4answers
3k views
What atmospheric density would be required to allow a human being to fly without wings?
How dense would an atmosphere (that's presumably non-toxic) need to be in order for a human being (without wings, artificial or otherwise) to achieve unassisted flight (without killing said person ...
6
votes
3answers
446 views
Can you have reduced visibility (due to fog) but an atmosphere that is still breathable?
Is it possible to have an atmosphere that is essentially fog, but still be breathable by humans?
I'm basically looking to have an environment where visibility is very low (for suspense reasons) even ...
13
votes
7answers
2k views
Advanced civilization on planet with atmosphere only in large sinkholes
I want to have an Earth-sized planet (with similar gravity) with an extremely low-density atmosphere (comparable to Mars) at most of its surface. Complex life, including an information-age ...
2
votes
3answers
128 views
Plants grown in planet’s soil allow colonist to adapt to atmosphere
Is there a toxin which could plausibly exist in the atmosphere of a planet, which could make people sick but not too sick?
Is it possible that plants grown in the soil from this planet might be able ...
