I goofed in calculating the air pressures in Rama.  I hope these
calculations are correct!

    (mapconcat
      '(lambda (h)
         "Calculate air pressures in a spinning space habitat"
         (format "%f \n"
                 (let ((e 2.718181828)
                       (R 8.0))  ; radius of habitat
        (expt e (- (/ (expt (/ h R) 2) (* (/ 5.0 R) 3.45)))))))
      '(0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8) " ")

               Pressure  Pressure  Calculated pressure
   Altitude     ratio    given in    
                           book
    0.0         1.00                   390             rim (i.e., `surface')
    1.0         0.99                   387
    2.0         0.97                   379
    3.0         0.94                   365
    4.0         0.89                   347
    5.0         0.83                   325
    6.0         0.77      300 mb       300
    7.0         0.70                   273
    8.0         0.63                   245              central spin axis

    (Calculated pressure is 390 times Pressure-ratio)


As I said earlier, humans have a hard time breathing a standard
Earthly air mix when the pressure is less than about 40% of sea level,
or less than about 400 mb.  This is equivalent to an altitude of 6500
meters (21000 ft) on Earth.

A rim pressure of 390 mb is doable, but not great.

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         Rattlesnake Enterprises
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.teak.cc                             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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