3 ms·
If atmospheric nitrogen dropped by half, I'd imagine the effects would be pretty significant for aircraft, birds & internal combustion engines. Rocket launches
by 00N8 2y ago
If atmospheric nitrogen dropped by half, I'd imagine the effects would be pretty significant for aircraft, birds & internal combustion engines. Rocket launches would become more efficient (less drag), but reentry would be more challenging, w/ less overall drag & proportionally more oxidizing effect when aero-braking
Most engines would probably run hotter & weaker w/out as much nitrogen to use as a working fluid (maybe we'd compensate for this w/ water injection & get even better performance though?)
The speed of sound would decease slightly, while the speed needed to generate lift at a given altitude would increase. This would definitely affect airplanes, e.g. a plane that can cruise at 15k feet but not 30k feet might not be able to reach 15k feet anymore
- Forge36 2y agoNitrogen is 77% of the atmosphere by weight. For reference at 1 mile is Denver Colorado (which while researching is enough to cause altitude sickness) with 18% less atmosphere. Water boils at 200° F. If half the nitrogen was gone (38.5% of atmosphere), sea level world be equivalent to ~15,000 feet today) water would now boil at ~194.3° F.