The Armstrong limit, often called Armstrong's line, is the altitude that produces an atmospheric pressure so low (0.0618 atmosphere or 6.3 kPa (1.9 inHg)) that water boils at the normal temperature of the human body: 37 °C (98.6 °F). It is named after Harry George Armstrong, who founded the U.S. Air Force’s Department of Space Medicine in 1947 at Randolph Field, Texas. Armstrong was the first to recognize this phenomenon, which occurs at an altitude beyond which humans absolutely cannot survive in an unpressurized environment. The altitude is variously reported as being between 18,900–19,350 meters (62-63,500 feet, or about 12 miles (10 nmi)).
Read more about Armstrong Limit: Effect On Bodily Liquids, Hypoxia Below The Armstrong Limit, Historical Significance
Famous quotes containing the words armstrong and/or limit:
“But Jonnë had a bright sword by his side,
And it was made of the mettle so free,
That had not the king stept his foot aside,
He had smitten his head from his faire bodde.”
—Unknown. Johnie Armstrong (l. 4548)
“Greatness collapses of itself: such limit the gods have set to the growth of prosperous states.”
—Marcus Annaeus Lucan (3965)