Pressurized Breathing in Vacuum

Cluster focuses on the dangers and feasibility of breathing pressurized air or pure oxygen in vacuum or low-pressure environments, debating issues like oxygen toxicity, hypoxia, partial pressures, and lung effects.

📉 Falling 0.4x Science
2,751
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#9580
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
5
2009
22
2010
35
2011
17
2012
53
2013
117
2014
74
2015
106
2016
94
2017
121
2018
184
2019
214
2020
362
2021
298
2022
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2023
323
2024
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2025
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2026
7

Keywords

HUET CO2 youtube.com N2O ARDS wikipedia.org oxygen breathing pressure air lungs breathe sea level breath sea mask

Sample Comments

torstesu Aug 16, 2013 View on HN

Breathing pressurized air in vacuum is not such a good idea.

andy_ppp Apr 21, 2019 View on HN

Does it have to be 100% oxygen due to pressure or?

regularfry Nov 13, 2024 View on HN

Strongly suspect you don't want pressurised oxygen-containing-atmosphere in that situation.

kazinator Aug 15, 2018 View on HN

That seems like a poor idea.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

ruph123 Feb 1, 2023 View on HN

Wouldn't be the lower oxygen levels in the atmosphere be a problem here?

easytiger Sep 13, 2021 View on HN

100% oxygen under high pressure is dangerous

mrfusion Sep 16, 2020 View on HN

Is there an issue of not being able to hold your breath in low pressure?

brazzy Aug 16, 2013 View on HN

Pure oxygen at low pressure might actually work. I'm pretty sure the lungs can take 0.1 atm pressure differential, and it should be enough oxygen to stay conscious indefinitely.

tgsovlerkhgsel Dec 25, 2024 View on HN

If you put a human in an environment with 20% of sea level pressure, and feed them 20% sea level pressure air, they will suffocate.If you were to somehow feed them 100% sea level pressure air through a perfectly sealed mask, they will be unable to exhale and/or get some kind of fatal side effects (burst lungs or air bubbles making it into the blood stream). So you have to feed the breathing gas at the surrounding pressure.If, however, you give them 100% oxygen at 20% sea level

ChrisArchitect Dec 1, 2023 View on HN

How does the thin air/lack of oxygen not mess with them over that many days?