Face23785
Junior Member
Posts: 182
Registered: 04-11 |
Redeemer812 said:
That wouldn't make too much of a difference, though. The mean temperature on Mars is about -200 degrees Fahrenheit. With that in mind, it should be pretty clear that Doomguy should not be able to leave the mars base without putting on an insulated suit, no matter where the base really is.
The mean surface temperature is just that, the mean or average. That doesn't mean it's -200 everywhere on the planet. For example I just looked up Earth's mean surface temperature, 57 degrees. The equatorial regions of Mars, during the summer months, can provide surface temperatures that are at least livable, with highs even reaching the 60s or 70s on rare occasion. If the base was located there and it was summer (the game states that it is late summer, but that's Earth time), running outside for the extremely short periods that you do during the game, temperature wouldn't be the deciding factor. The low pressure is what will get ya.
If all you had on was an oxygen mask, you wouldn't freeze to death. The low pressure would probably cause your blood and other fluids to come out of solution.
One thing to remember about the low temperatures in extraterrestrial environments is that if there's little or no atmosphere, heat can't radiate away from your body. Despite what you see in movies of people freezing instantly when exposed to the vacuum of space, which tends to be below -400, that wouldn't actually happen. Heat dissipates by radiating away to surrounding molecules. If you're in a vacuum, your body heat isn't gonna go anywhere. The pressure, or lack thereof, is what kills you. I recently saw a show where NASA planned to place a probe or have a probe fly through a region in the Sun's atmosphere that's over a million degrees. Your initial reaction is that the probe would be toast, but they're not concerned because the atmosphere is so thin there that it can't transfer the heat.
Edit: Wow that's long-winded. I'm not trying to be patronizing or anything, just thought I'd share that interesting tidbit.
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10-15-11 18:45 
