A pressure suit is a suit that is filled with oxygen in order to build up pressure, preventing any dangerous chemicals to enter the suit. According to Dr. Mike Holbrook, director of Biosafety Level-4 lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, he works with some of the deadliest viruses—Ebola and Marburg. In order to work with these dangerous viruses, Dr. Holbrook and his team must take caution. First, they enter the “Clean Change Room”, where they change from their street clothes to their scrubs. Then they enter another room, the positive pressure room, where they put on the pressure suits which are big blue suits that have “’medical-grade breathing air pumped into them’” (Keeping Cool in the Hot Zone). The positive pressure gives the individual a safe environment by pushing air out through a hole in the suit. Rhonda was wearing one of the pressure suit; however, she didn’t have any knowledge about how the suits work. When somebody noticed the hole in her suit, she panicked and the sergeant put a piece of tape on top of the hole to cover it. No virus could have got in the suit because of the air pressure protecting Rhonda from a virus entering through the hole of her suit.
Barrera, M. (n.d.). Keeping Cool in the Hot Zone -- Occupational Health & Safety. Retrieved June 4, 2015, from http://ohsonline.com/Articles/2008/01/Keeping-Cool-in-the-Hot-Zone.aspx
Preston, R. (1994). The Hot Zone. New York: Random House.
The reason for this is the one of the simplest concepts of physics. Equilibrium is when the unit measure on one side is equivalent to the unit measure on another side. For the gas inside the suit, the pressure was higher inside the suit than the pressure in the atmosphere outside the suit. If the suit were to get ruptured in any way, the air would flow out, diminishing the risk of any disease-causing particle to get inside of the suit. Even if the disease-causing particle is airborne, the air inside the suit would be pushing, and flowing outward in order to reach an equilibrium between the air inside and the air outside.
Equilibrium and Statics. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors/Lesson-3/Equilibrium-and-Statics
A pressure suit is a suit that is filled with oxygen in order to build up pressure, preventing any dangerous chemicals to enter the suit. According to Dr. Mike Holbrook, director of Biosafety Level-4 lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, he works with some of the deadliest viruses—Ebola and Marburg. In order to work with these dangerous viruses, Dr. Holbrook and his team must take caution. First, they enter the “Clean Change Room”, where they change from their street clothes to their scrubs. Then they enter another room, the positive pressure room, where they put on the pressure suits which are big blue suits that have “’medical-grade breathing air pumped into them’” (Keeping Cool in the Hot Zone). The positive pressure gives the individual a safe environment by pushing air out through a hole in the suit. Rhonda was wearing one of the pressure suit; however, she didn’t have any knowledge about how the suits work. When somebody noticed the hole in her suit, she panicked and the sergeant put a piece of tape on top of the hole to cover it. No virus could have got in the suit because of the air pressure protecting Rhonda from a virus entering through the hole of her suit.
ReplyDeleteBarrera, M. (n.d.). Keeping Cool in the Hot Zone -- Occupational Health & Safety. Retrieved June 4, 2015, from http://ohsonline.com/Articles/2008/01/Keeping-Cool-in-the-Hot-Zone.aspx
Preston, R. (1994). The Hot Zone. New York: Random House.
The reason for this is the one of the simplest concepts of physics. Equilibrium is when the unit measure on one side is equivalent to the unit measure on another side. For the gas inside the suit, the pressure was higher inside the suit than the pressure in the atmosphere outside the suit. If the suit were to get ruptured in any way, the air would flow out, diminishing the risk of any disease-causing particle to get inside of the suit. Even if the disease-causing particle is airborne, the air inside the suit would be pushing, and flowing outward in order to reach an equilibrium between the air inside and the air outside.
DeleteEquilibrium and Statics. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/vectors/Lesson-3/Equilibrium-and-Statics
Hi Karen, would you have panicked if you saw a hole in your suit in the Ebola research facility?
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