Question about movie "The Martian"

[Savage1701]

Yeah, yeah, it's just a movie, but I was still wondering:

1. Would hydrazine decompose completely when dripped over rhodium, as Mark Watney did in the movie? That stuff is really toxic even in tiny amounts, isn't it?

2. Wouldn't Watney have died from displacement asphyxiation ? He was decomposing so much hydrazine to make all that water he needed for his soil; wouldn't he have suffocated from all the excess nitrogen he would have been liberating along with the hydrogen?

Just curious...

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

I don't remember him commenting on that. Have you read the book? You can download it for free online, Andy put it up in various formats for free before going with Amazon.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Yeah, yeah, it's just a movie, but I was still wondering:

1. Would hydrazine decompose completely when dripped over rhodium, as Mark Watney did in the movie? That stuff is really toxic even in tiny amounts, isn't it?

2. Wouldn't Watney have died from displacement asphyxiation ? He was decomposing so much hydrazine to make all that water he needed for his soil; wouldn't he have suffocated from all the excess nitrogen he would have been liberating along with the hydrogen?

Just curious...

Regarding the nitrogen, the "air plant" regulated the amounts of the main elements in the air, nitrogen/oxygen/carbon dioxide.