Re: A bit of chemical engineering

On Jun 28, 12:54 am, Bryan Derksen <bryan.derk...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Logan Kearsley wrote:
Makes me think of huge blimps with cities built within their interior :)
Although the prospect of a hull breach is a bit more uncomfortable then
on a space station...

Why? The atmosphere would leak out slower, since there's pressure
outside.

It's not so much what would leak out as what would leak _in_.
Concentrated carbon dioxide is a deadly asphyxiant that pools in low
places and is much less noticeable than vacuum. I saw a documentary once
that showed video of a small depression in Africa where volcanic
activity was causing carbon dioxide emissions and it was full of rotting
dead animals, mostly scavengers that had seen the other dead animals
that went before them and collapsed when they went in to grab a bite. Of
course, Venusian atmosphere has sulfur dioxide, so it'll be stinky. But
by the time you can smell that you might already be in the thick of it.

A balloon would have slight overpressure in the interior, so unless
it's a really large breach, with buoyant gas flowing out the top and
exterior air flowing in the bottom, you shouldn't have to worry about
inward leakage for a while.
On the other hand, the relative slowness of the effects of damage
could make it hard to spot, so I wouldn't want to take the chance
living on a Venusian balloon city if I had to rely on people to notice
if anything went wrong. But if you're living in a Venusian balloon
city, you shouldn't have to rely on people to notice- I expect
extensive air quality and hull/balloon integrity sensor systems to be
fairly cheap and standard safety equipment.

And then there's the fact that a really major hull breach would mean a
loss of buoyancy, with the solar system's most infernal planetary
surface waiting a scant sixty kilometers below to receive you. :)

But that'll be a really slow process. Plenty of time to recover from
it, and only a major problem (except for any unlucky people who get
trapped in the asphyxiation zone) if the interior isn't sectioned off.
If it is, well, you temporarily lose some capacity in one buoyancy
cell, and the rest keep you afloat until it's repaired.

-l.
.