What is The Lowest Pressure That a Human Body Can Withstand? | |
Forgotten User ID: 1448291 United States 12/28/2012 09:35 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Well air pressure is about 14 lbs per sq inch. The human body is balanced against this. Dont have the number, but we could crunch some. At what point would our internal pressure (about 14 lbs per sq inch) be too much for our skin to take vs the air pressure. Hmm, going to have to do some digging. Forgotten: Reach me at [email protected] |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 28168290 United States 12/28/2012 10:38 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | What you can't do when the pressure gets too low is breathe. Don't try to climb Everest without supplied air. Your diaphragm can't do the job by itself as breathing also depends on diffusion/osmosis, which won't work if there isn't enough pressure pushing air into your lungs, aveoli, then on out into the blood. (I don't remember the exact mechanics as it has been a long time since I was in school - - which explains why I put it as diffusion/osmosis instead of just one or the other.) As for low pressure effects on the body: Astronauts/Cosmonauts visit outside the atmosphere and seem to do fine. It's the lack of gravity that starts to damage them. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 28168290 United States 12/28/2012 10:39 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
av8r User ID: 30815274 United States 12/28/2012 10:47 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
DUCM900 (OP) User ID: 31410157 Italy 01/03/2013 10:45 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Mez353 User ID: 16931650 Germany 01/03/2013 10:51 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | We can withstand a vacuum for a short while. Known as it has happened by accident in labs etc. [link to imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov] |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 26254870 United States 01/03/2013 11:01 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's all about Oxygen. Pressure is required to keep the oxygen transporting from your lungs into your blood. The FAA requires pilots to use O2 above 10,000 ft. which is about 10 psi. To maintain consciousness above that altitude you need additional O2. So to answer your question technically, it's only 10 psi. If you HAD pressurized O2 forced into you (as with the old USAF high-altitude masks) you might make it to 40k feet for a while ... which is 2.7 psi. On a side note, the astronauts in the early US space program used like 95% O2 at 3 psi. Until it blew up Apollo 1. [link to www.engineeringtoolbox.com] |