Can the Na'vi breathe an Earthlike atmosphere?

[Niri Te]

Hydrogen Sulphide is not Sulfuric Acid, their relative PH's are different. The end result would be the same, the time required to reach the end result would be different.

[Ateyo leSyaksyuk]

IRAYO MA CLARKE! That seems like a big BOO-BOO in the production. The atmosphere isn't as caustic as was claimed if Quaritch was able to remain alive after kicking open the airlock door! If Cameron is going to play fast and loose with the "facts" that he created, then so can we! ATEYO the ANARCHYST

[Clarke]

Originally Posted by taylorcraftbc65

Hydrogen Sulphide is not Sulfuric Acid, their relative PH's are different. The end result would be the same, the time required to reach the end result would be different.

Hydrogen sulphide was used as a chemical weapon in WWI, in far lower concentrations than it is apparently present on Pandora AFAIK.

[Human No More]

...for its toxicity, not as an acid - the latter would just be stupid, especially when there are far better options when that's the intended effect.

Also, it was actually mustard gas (chlorine and sulphur compounds) and chlorine which were used primarily.

Originally Posted by Ateyo leSyaksyuk

IRAYO MA CLARKE! That seems like a big BOO-BOO in the production. The atmosphere isn't as caustic as was claimed if Quaritch was able to remain alive after kicking open the airlock door! If Cameron is going to play fast and loose with the "facts" that he created, then so can we! ATEYO the ANARCHYST

What?
JC never made a mistake, clarke did (hopefully a mistake... )

[Clarke]

Sulphuric acid is an incredibly nasty thing to have floating around as a vapour, but I did make a mistake in that hydrogen sulphide is the thing in Pandora's atmosphere. The figure of 0.1% is that for H2S, but I cannot find a source more reliable than the Wiki.

However, I am still confident that 0.1% H2S would immediately kill Quaritch on contact.

[Ateyo leSyaksyuk]

That scene Quaritch should then be eliminated from the movie and the speech on the troop ship should be changed to reflect this more accurately. Someone go tell Cameron!
Ateyo Te SyakSyuk

[Ateyo leSyaksyuk]

Could it be that in ceertain regions of the planet, the air composition could be different?
For iinstance, the Los Angeles basin lends itself to accumulating smog. (The Native People named it the Valley of the Smokes)
Just saying ...

[Moco Loco]

Originally Posted by Clarke

However, I am still confident that 0.1% H2S would immediately kill Quaritch on contact.

You mean whether or not he breathed any of it?

[Niri Te]

Even if he didn't breath any of it, could you imagine what it would do to his EYES? He couldn't SEE to make the shots at the flex wing, and give it a week, and he might be blind.
Niri Te

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Clarke

Sulphuric acid is an incredibly nasty thing to have floating around as a vapour, but I did make a mistake in that hydrogen sulphide is the thing in Pandora's atmosphere. The figure of 0.1% is that for H2S, but I cannot find a source more reliable than the Wiki.

However, I am still confident that 0.1% H2S would immediately kill Quaritch on contact.

You're thinking of HCN.

[Clarke]

Originally Posted by Moco Loco

You mean whether or not he breathed any of it?

Pandora's atmosphere is higher pressure than Earth's, which means it'll force itself through his nose. If that alone doesn't cause mortal damage, the pain of having his eyeballs destroyed will probably make him gasp, and thus inhale it.

Originally Posted by Human No More

You're thinking of HCN.

Quoth Wiki:

Hydrogen sulfide is considered a broad-spectrum poison, meaning that it can poison several different systems in the body, although the nervous system is most affected. The toxicity of H2S is comparable with that of hydrogen cyanide.
[...]
530–1000 ppm causes strong stimulation of the central nervous system and rapid breathing, leading to loss of breathing.
Concentrations over 1000 ppm cause immediate collapse with loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.

[Moco Loco]

Your quote gives me the impression these effects don't occur until you breathe at least some amount of it.

Also,

Originally Posted by Clarke

Pandora's atmosphere is higher pressure than Earth's, which means it'll force itself through his nose.

This doesn't mean he'll be forced to breath it, only that it'll barely creep into his sinuses.

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Clarke

Pandora's atmosphere is higher pressure than Earth's, which means it'll force itself through his nose. If that alone doesn't cause mortal damage, the pain of having his eyeballs destroyed will probably make him gasp, and thus inhale it.


Quoth Wiki:

Wrong.
Pressure is not necessarily higher, you're thinking of density. Vehicles and buildings are pressurised above ambient so in case of minor damage, atmosphere leaks out and not in. Pandora's atmospheric pressure is actually 0.9atm, so presumably the vehicles and buildings are ~1.0 or more.

H2S is not toxic on skin contact except as a liquid. He would have had some eye irritation, as well as to mucous membranes of nose/throat, but it is perfectly possible not to actually inhale it.

[Niri Te]

Originally Posted by Human No More

Wrong.
H2S is not toxic on skin contact except as a liquid.

ALWAYS pack your rain poncho then. Everything would have been SOOOO much simpler if they would have left THAT nasty little chemical OUT of the Pandoran atmosphere. The high CO2 levels alone would have required the use of the exopacks, without making the atmosphere to totally destructive to almost everything.
I would LOVE to see an autopsy on a Na'vi resperatory system, they might be bipeds, and have some external Human like characteristics, but they are FAR removed from us, to be able to function in that caustic an environment.
Niri Te

[Ateyo leSyaksyuk]

HHHRR! OISSSS! I remember reading about several incidents where American scientistswere so enthralled with American Indian physiology that they performed vivisections(William Beaumont comes to mind)
I KNOW YOU AREN'T SUGGESTING ANYTHING OF THE SORT just an unpleasant ssociation.
That said, it would be interesting to know how their lungs were different. (!)