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Room air at altitude can be enriched with oxygen without introducing an unacceptable fire hazard. At an altitude of 8000 m the equivalent altitude in terms of oxygen partial pressure can be reduced to below 4000 m without increasing the fire hazard beyond that of normal sea level atmospheric air.
The oxygen atom product combines with atmospheric molecular oxygen to reform O 3, releasing heat. The rapid photolysis and reformation of ozone heat the stratosphere, resulting in a temperature inversion. This increase of temperature with altitude is characteristic of the stratosphere; its resistance to vertical mixing means that it is stratified.
Air pressure actually decreases exponentially with altitude, for altitudes up to around 70 km (43 mi; 230,000 ft), dropping by half every 5.6 km (18,000 ft), or by a factor of 1/e ≈ 0.368 every 7.64 km (25,100 ft), which is called the scale height. However, the atmosphere is more accurately modeled with a customized equation for each layer ...
Atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude while the O 2 fraction remains constant to about 85 km (53 mi), so PO 2 decreases with altitude as well. It is about half of its sea level value at 5,500 m (18,000 ft), the altitude of the Mount Everest base camp, and less than a third at 8,849 m (29,032 ft), the summit of Mount Everest. [8]
Tibetans suffer no health problems associated with altitude sickness, but instead produce low levels of blood pigment (haemoglobin) sufficient for less oxygen, more elaborate blood vessels, [21] have lower infant mortality, [22] and are heavier at birth. [23] EPAS1 is useful in high altitudes as a short term adaptive response.
In the region from sea level to around 3,000 m (10,000 ft), known as the physiological-efficient zone, oxygen levels are usually high enough for humans to function without supplemental oxygen and altitude decompression sickness is rare. The physiological-deficient zone extends from 3,600 m (12,000 ft) to about 15,000 m (50,000 ft).
At 11,900 m (39,000 ft), breathing pure oxygen through an unsealed face mask, one is breathing the same partial pressure of oxygen as one would experience with regular air at around 3,600 m (11,800 ft) above sea level [citation needed]. At higher altitudes, oxygen must be delivered through a sealed mask with increased pressure, to maintain a ...
For example, Tibetans living at high altitudes have a more sensitive hypoxic ventilatory response than do Andean peoples living at similar altitudes, [5] [9] even though both populations exhibit greater aerobic capacity compared to lowlanders. [10] The cause of this difference is most likely genetic, although developmental factors may also ...