D Yak (Hoping to return)
Inside Out From Biosphere Two
© Diana Yakowitz 2013 All rights reserved
Funny that I forgot to post pictures from Biosphere Two inside and out except the one before going through the park entrance (Fool on the Hill, shown in the second comment). Not having internet at home right now, I forget a lot of things while at the library or Starbucks or other free WiFi places. So, I am posting a bunch of them in Medium format in the first comment. These were all taken on the visit that Vicky (manywinters) and I made here on her visit to Tucson.
This image is a view looking toward the foothills through the structure of the Biosphere Two wall. The University of Arizona now owns and manages this tremendous research structure and tours can now go inside. One of the interesting parts of the tour was seeing the inside of one of the two gigantic dome shaped Lungs. These structures allowed the air pressure inside Biosphere Two to remain constant even when the air was heated or cooled by the sun or lack of it by allowing the air to move into the Lung and raise a heavy layer of concrete and expandable bellows when the air pressure inside the Biosphere rises due to heating of the air. The lungs move air back into the structure as the air cools. It operated as a closed system. The original experiment with the eight Biospherians was considered a "failed" experiment because air had to be added to the closed system. The reason for this - the engineers forgot to take into account the massive amount of oxygen absorbed by the concrete used in the structure and the lungs.
Inside Out From Biosphere Two
© Diana Yakowitz 2013 All rights reserved
Funny that I forgot to post pictures from Biosphere Two inside and out except the one before going through the park entrance (Fool on the Hill, shown in the second comment). Not having internet at home right now, I forget a lot of things while at the library or Starbucks or other free WiFi places. So, I am posting a bunch of them in Medium format in the first comment. These were all taken on the visit that Vicky (manywinters) and I made here on her visit to Tucson.
This image is a view looking toward the foothills through the structure of the Biosphere Two wall. The University of Arizona now owns and manages this tremendous research structure and tours can now go inside. One of the interesting parts of the tour was seeing the inside of one of the two gigantic dome shaped Lungs. These structures allowed the air pressure inside Biosphere Two to remain constant even when the air was heated or cooled by the sun or lack of it by allowing the air to move into the Lung and raise a heavy layer of concrete and expandable bellows when the air pressure inside the Biosphere rises due to heating of the air. The lungs move air back into the structure as the air cools. It operated as a closed system. The original experiment with the eight Biospherians was considered a "failed" experiment because air had to be added to the closed system. The reason for this - the engineers forgot to take into account the massive amount of oxygen absorbed by the concrete used in the structure and the lungs.