Environmental suit - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

An environmental suit is a suit

Suit

-Garments:*Suit , a set of garments with matching pieces, including at least a coat and trousers**Formal wear, the general terms for clothing suitable for formal social events*Boilersuit, or coverall, a loose-fitting one-piece garment...

designed specifically for a particular environment, usually one otherwise hostile to humans. An environment suit is typically a one-piece garment, and many types also feature a helmet

Helmet

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...

or other covering for the head. Where the surrounding environment is especially dangerous the suit is completely sealed

Seal (mechanical)

A mechanical seal is a device which helps join systems or mechanisms together by preventing leakage , containing pressure, or excluding contamination...

.

The first environmental suits were diving suit

Diving suit

A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit typically also incorporates an air-supply .-History:...

s designed to protect a diver

Underwater diving

Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater, either with breathing apparatus or by breath-holding .Recreational diving is a popular activity...

from the surrounding water (see timeline of underwater technology

Timeline of underwater technology

This is a timeline of underwater technology.The entries marked ## are about decompression tables.-Pre-industrial:* Several centuries BC: This is a timeline of underwater technology.The entries marked ## are about decompression tables.-Pre-industrial:* Several centuries BC: This is a timeline of...

). Later developments were designed to protect the wearer from the cold (for example wetsuits and other ambient pressure suits) or from undersea high pressure and the resulting decompression sickness

Decompression sickness

Decompression sickness describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurization...

(for example atmospheric diving suit

Atmospheric diving suit

An atmospheric diving suit or ADS is a small one-man articulated submersible of anthropomorphic form which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of one atmosphere...

s). Protecting the wearer from cold is also a feature of ski suit

Ski suit

A ski suit is a suit made to be worn over the rest of the clothes when skiing. A ski suit made for more casual winter wear outdoors may also be called a snowsuit....

s.

In aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

, pressure suit

Pressure suit

A pressure suit is a protective suit worn by high-altitude pilots who may fly at altitudes where the air pressure is too low for an unprotected person to survive, even breathing pure oxygen at positive pressure. Such suits may be either full-pressure or partial-pressure...

s protect fighter

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

s from hypoxia

Hypoxia (medical)

Hypoxia, or hypoxiation, is a pathological condition in which the body as a whole or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. Variations in arterial oxygen concentrations can be part of the normal physiology, for example, during strenuous physical exercise...

/ altitude sickness

Altitude sickness

Altitude sickness—also known as acute mountain sickness , altitude illness, hypobaropathy, or soroche—is a pathological effect of high altitude on humans, caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude...

, and g-suit

G-suit

A G-suit, or the more accurately named anti-G suit, is worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration force . It is designed to prevent a black-out and G-LOC caused by the blood pooling in the lower part of the body when under acceleration, thus depriving the...

s from the adverse effects of acceleration (gravity-induced loss of consciousness, or G-LOC

G-LOC

G-LOC, pronounced 'GEE-lock', is the abbreviation of G-force induced Loss Of Consciousness, a term generally used in aerospace physiology to describe a loss of consciousness occurring from excessive and sustained g-forces draining blood away from the brain causing cerebral hypoxia...

). The most extreme environmental suits are used by astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

s to protect them during ascent and while in the vacuum of space: space suit

Space suit

A space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...

s and space activity suit

Space activity suit

A space activity suit or mechanical counterpressure suit is an experimental spacesuit which applies stable pressure against the skin by means of skintight elastic garments. The SAS is not inflated like a conventional spacesuit: it uses mechanical pressure, rather than air pressure, to compress the...

s. Such suits are self-supporting, and include a supply of oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

for the wearer.

Environmental suits are also used to protect the wearer from contamination (for example hazmat suit

Hazmat suit

A hazmat suit is a garment worn as protection from hazardous materials or substances. A hazmat suit is generally combined with breathing apparatus for protection and may be used by firefighters, emergency personnel responding to toxic spills, researchers, specialists cleaning up contaminated...

s), or conversely to protect the environment from contamination by the wearer (see cleanroom suit

Cleanroom suit

A clean room suit, cleanroom suit, or bunny suit, is an overall garment worn in a clean room. One common type is an all-in-one coverall worn by semiconductor and nanotechnology line production workers, technicians, and process / equipment engineers, as well as people in similar roles creating...

s). The concept of an environmental suit protecting someone from contamination is a feature of the boy in the bubble

Boy in the bubble

Bubble boy, boy in the bubble and boy in the plastic bubble are colloquialisms used to describe a person who must live in a microbiologically sterile environment for medical reasons...

trope: both David Vetter

David Vetter

David Phillip Vetter was a boy from Shenandoah, Texas, United States who suffered from a rare genetic disease now known as severe combined immune deficiency syndrome . Forced to live in a sterile environment, he became popular with the media as the boy in the plastic bubble...

and Ted DeVita

Ted DeVita

Ted DeVita was a victim of severe aplastic anemia who was forced to live in a sterile hospital room for eight and a half years....

at some point used such suits.

See also