Post History
Inspired by the answers to What can I add to an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere to make it unpalatable or poisonous to humans, yet stable and breathable to local creatures?, I am building a planet that ...
#1: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2020-07-07T13:56:03Z (over 4 years ago)
local link
<p>Inspired by the answers to <a href="https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/78786/29">What can I add to an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere to make it unpalatable or poisonous to humans, yet stable and breathable to local creatures?</a>, I am building a planet that currently...</p><ul><li>Has an iron core, for the magnetic field to help retain the atmosphere</li><li>Has a surface gravitational acceleration of about 12.2 m/s<sup>2</sup>, some 25% greater than that of Earth (by virtue of being slightly more massive than Earth as well as somewhat smaller)</li><li>Is covered by 73.9% land and 26.1% oceans (basically the opposite of Earth)</li><li>Has an atmosphere consisting of 67.2% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinitrogen" rel="nofollow noreferrer">N<sub>2</sub></a>, 27.4% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_oxygen#Dioxygen" rel="nofollow noreferrer">O<sub>2</sub></a>, 4.8% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO<sub>2</sub></a>, 0.4% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ar</a>, and 0.2% miscellaneous (which I haven't decided on a complete breakdown as of yet, but which does include 2.4 ppm <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic" rel="nofollow noreferrer">As</a>)</li><li>Has a surface atmospheric pressure of 1930 mbar</li><li>Is highly geologically active, with lots of active volcanoes both on land and under water, as well as active plate tectonics</li></ul><p>The planet will have lifeforms not entirely unlike those found on present-day Earth, but obviously not humans as we know them.</p><p>Now for the, IMO very much related, questions:</p><ul><li>Will this atmosphere be <em>stable?</em> If not, then why not?<ul><li>I don't mind the occasional (or even not so occasional; that's a lot of oxygen) wildfire, but I do mind if half the world goes up in flames the first time there's a meteor strike or volcanic eruption.</li></ul></li><li>Is the mixture and pressure <em>reasonable</em> given the planet? If not, then why not?</li><li>Is there anything about the atmosphere that would pose particular problems to <em>indigneous</em> lifeforms? Anything that you can think of which I should keep in mind while designing lifeforms adapted to this atmosphere?</li></ul>
- <p>Inspired by the answers to <a href="https://scientific-speculation.codidact.com/q/230554">What can I add to an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere to make it unpalatable or poisonous to humans, yet stable and breathable to local creatures?</a>, I am building a planet that currently...</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Has an iron core, for the magnetic field to help retain the atmosphere</li>
- <li>Has a surface gravitational acceleration of about 12.2 m/s<sup>2</sup>, some 25% greater than that of Earth (by virtue of being slightly more massive than Earth as well as somewhat smaller)</li>
- <li>Is covered by 73.9% land and 26.1% oceans (basically the opposite of Earth)</li>
- <li>Has an atmosphere consisting of 67.2% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinitrogen" rel="nofollow noreferrer">N<sub>2</sub></a>, 27.4% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_oxygen#Dioxygen" rel="nofollow noreferrer">O<sub>2</sub></a>, 4.8% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CO<sub>2</sub></a>, 0.4% <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argon" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ar</a>, and 0.2% miscellaneous (which I haven't decided on a complete breakdown as of yet, but which does include 2.4 ppm <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic" rel="nofollow noreferrer">As</a>)</li>
- <li>Has a surface atmospheric pressure of 1930 mbar</li>
- <li>Is highly geologically active, with lots of active volcanoes both on land and under water, as well as active plate tectonics</li>
- </ul>
- <p>The planet will have lifeforms not entirely unlike those found on present-day Earth, but obviously not humans as we know them.</p>
- <p>Now for the, IMO very much related, questions:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Will this atmosphere be <em>stable?</em> If not, then why not?
- <ul>
- <li>I don't mind the occasional (or even not so occasional; that's a lot of oxygen) wildfire, but I do mind if half the world goes up in flames the first time there's a meteor strike or volcanic eruption.</li>
- </ul></li>
- <li>Is the mixture and pressure <em>reasonable</em> given the planet? If not, then why not?</li>
- <li>Is there anything about the atmosphere that would pose particular problems to <em>indigneous</em> lifeforms? Anything that you can think of which I should keep in mind while designing lifeforms adapted to this atmosphere?</li>
- </ul>