Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tequila Sunrise" data-source="post: 5702016" data-attributes="member: 40398">In fairness, Incenjucar is shifting goal posts and Abdul's explanation is misleading pseudo-science. So just in case anyone else is taking this 'physics' explanation seriously, allow me to set the record straight:Real things have altitude limits because as altitude increases, air density decreases. Low air density makes it difficult for creatures to breathe, and makes flyers expend more energy to stay aloft. Eventually, one problem and/or the other creates a creature's altitude limit.And here's the important part, which Abdul neglected to mention: it takes hundreds, if not thousands of feat for air density to measurably decrease. The difference in air density between ground level and 5 feet up is nonexistent for all intents and purposes; even by the most anal retentive scientific standards. That's why even the clumsiest barely-flyers can get at least several dozen feet high.If anyone doesn't believe me, you can prove it to yourself with a simple balloon experiment. Here's the deal: when you blow up a balloon, its air density equals the air density at that level. So if you blow one up and then bring it to a higher altitude, it should get bigger. When it gets about 10% bigger, air density begins to become a problem for flyers.So blow up a balloon at ground level; not to the point of bursting, but enough to make the plastic taut. Now measure the balloon's diameter. Then take it up a five foot ladder, and measure it again. Scratch that; take it up the highest ladder you can find, then measure it.If you can even measure the difference in diameter, I'll be surprised.</blockquote>

Verification