- #1
AFG34
- 130
- 0
What if you were put in a room with the atmosphere composed of only oxygen(100%)? Would you die?
Can You Survive in an Oxygen-Only Room?
- Context: Medical
- Thread starter AFG34
- Start date
Click For Summary
Discussion Overview
The discussion revolves around the implications of being in an environment with 100% oxygen. Participants explore the potential health risks, including oxygen toxicity and carbon dioxide poisoning, as well as the physiological requirements for breathing and maintaining blood chemistry.
Discussion Character
- Exploratory
- Technical explanation
- Debate/contested
Main Points Raised
- Some participants assert that being in a room with 100% oxygen would ultimately lead to death, though the timeframe for this is debated.
- One participant references the NOAA limit for oxygen exposure and notes that carbon dioxide poisoning would occur first in a sealed environment without a removal system.
- Another participant questions the necessity of inert gases in the blood and discusses the role of oxygen as an electron acceptor in biological processes.
- There are claims about the effects of high partial pressures of oxygen, including central nervous system toxicity, and the varying limits for safe exposure depending on activity levels and conditions.
- Participants mention historical contexts, such as the use of high oxygen environments in space missions and the Apollo 1 disaster.
Areas of Agreement / Disagreement
Participants express differing views on the immediate and long-term effects of 100% oxygen exposure, with some emphasizing the risk of carbon dioxide buildup while others focus on oxygen toxicity. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing perspectives.
Contextual Notes
Participants reference various limits and effects related to oxygen exposure, but there are unresolved assumptions regarding the specific conditions and individual physiological responses involved.
- #2
jdg812
- 84
- 0
Yes, you would.AFG34 said:
- #3
russ_watters
Mentor
- 23,873
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Huh - I didn't think that was true, but it may be -- but it would take several days, at least: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity
- #4
jdg812
- 84
- 0
Even if it would take 100 years... anyway... one would die...russ_watters said:
- #5
mgb_phys
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
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The NOAA limit used to be 24hrs on 1bar O2 - but that had a big safety margin.
Higher partial pressures can give you interesting CNS symptoms much sooner!
But in a sealed room you would die first of CO2 poisoning if there wasn't a system to remove it.
Higher partial pressures can give you interesting CNS symptoms much sooner!
But in a sealed room you would die first of CO2 poisoning if there wasn't a system to remove it.
- #6
JGM_14
- 157
- 0
ugh i am tired
Not if you had a large enough room.
I thought that you needed inert gases like nitrogen or helium (neon is toxic in larger quantities) in your blood to balance out the oxygen, but i do not know much about biology though. I think the only reason we need oxygen is the final electron acceptor at the end of the electron transport chain unless I'm getting myself confused with the inner workings of a plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathing_gas"
mgb_phys said:
Not if you had a large enough room.
I thought that you needed inert gases like nitrogen or helium (neon is toxic in larger quantities) in your blood to balance out the oxygen, but i do not know much about biology though. I think the only reason we need oxygen is the final electron acceptor at the end of the electron transport chain unless I'm getting myself confused with the inner workings of a plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathing_gas"
Last edited by a moderator:
- #7
mrjeffy321
Science Advisor
- 876
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I believe you do need to have a very tiny amount of CO2 in the air in order to maintain proper blood chemistry. I think this is the reason behind hyperventilating…you breathe in and out so much that your expel the CO2 produced in your lungs too quickly, causing one start to feel light-headed and possibly faint.
Also consider that they used to use very high Oxygen environments for the astronauts in the space program…recall one of the reasons for the Apollo 1 fire disaster.
Also consider that they used to use very high Oxygen environments for the astronauts in the space program…recall one of the reasons for the Apollo 1 fire disaster.
- #8
mgb_phys
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
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You can breathe pure oxygen - it's all a question of partial pressures.
0.21bar O2 is what you breath normally, you can eithge rmake the rest up with Nitrogen or reduce the pressure and breath pure oxygen.
At about 1bar 02 (ie. breathing pure oxygen at atmospheric pressure) you get slight lung irritation after about 24 hours.
At higher partial pressures oxygen becomes toxic - it effects your centrla nervous system. The limit depending on who you work for, how much physical activity and how much danger you are in is between 1.4bar and 3bar. So recreational diving you would limit O2 to about 1.2 bar, either by having 40% oxygen at 3atmosphere of pressure or 21% at 6 atmospheres, you can handle upto about 2.5-3 bar if you are safely strapped down in a chamber.
The effects of short term exposure to high O2 aren't necessarily themselves dangerous, you get muscle spasms with CNS but if you are 100m underwater this can be dangerous.
The reason for complicated gas mixes ( nitrox/trimix/heliox) in diving is to achieve the pressure of the surrounding water while keeping the partial pressure of biologically active gases, especially oxygen, low enough by diluting them with inert gas.
0.21bar O2 is what you breath normally, you can eithge rmake the rest up with Nitrogen or reduce the pressure and breath pure oxygen.
At about 1bar 02 (ie. breathing pure oxygen at atmospheric pressure) you get slight lung irritation after about 24 hours.
At higher partial pressures oxygen becomes toxic - it effects your centrla nervous system. The limit depending on who you work for, how much physical activity and how much danger you are in is between 1.4bar and 3bar. So recreational diving you would limit O2 to about 1.2 bar, either by having 40% oxygen at 3atmosphere of pressure or 21% at 6 atmospheres, you can handle upto about 2.5-3 bar if you are safely strapped down in a chamber.
The effects of short term exposure to high O2 aren't necessarily themselves dangerous, you get muscle spasms with CNS but if you are 100m underwater this can be dangerous.
The reason for complicated gas mixes ( nitrox/trimix/heliox) in diving is to achieve the pressure of the surrounding water while keeping the partial pressure of biologically active gases, especially oxygen, low enough by diluting them with inert gas.
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