wasdale
27th Jul 2006, 13:40
Why is it that someone with severe breathing difficulties, eg asthma, suffers great distress during an attack, yet someone taken to n mega feet in a decompression chamber feels no distress at all?:confused:
chornedsnorkack
27th Jul 2006, 14:02
Why is it that someone with severe breathing difficulties, eg asthma, suffers great distress during an attack, yet someone taken to n mega feet in a decompression chamber feels no distress at all?:confused:
Because the human breathing system senses carbon dioxide - not oxygen, unfortunately.
If the lungs are obstructed by asthma, or choking, or the exhaled air remains in a small volume, or carbon dioxide from any other source gets into the inhaled air, this causes distress. But if the oxygen is in short supply while carbon dioxide does not build up, whether because the overall pressure is low or because some inert gas is around, this does not produce the rapid distress response like carbon dioxide.