Why would the person die?
If a person is made to stand in a an airtight glass chamber, he would eventually die. now my question is that would the person die because of the decrease in oxygen or increase in carbondioxide
If a person is made to stand in a an airtight glass chamber, he would eventually die. now my question is that would the person die because of the decrease in oxygen or increase in carbondioxide
Anonymous
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The increasing C02 would kill the person before lack of oxygen did.
In your hypothetical chamber, the initial concentration of oxygen is about 21% of the total air volume. Air pressure at sea level is 760 mm Hg, and oxygen makes up 21% of that - about 160 mm Hg.
As the person in the chamber breathes, oxygen is converted to carbon dioxide on a 1:1 basis. The partial pressure of CO2 rises to 75 mm Hg (the significance of that level will be discussed shortly) while the oxygen partial pressure falls to 85 mm Hg. The sum of O2 and CO2 pressures is always 160 mm Hg.
Oxygen at 85 mm Hg is enough to sustain life - it's approximately the same amount of oxygen you'd be getting in free air at 16,500 ft.
CO2 becomes toxic when its partial pressure reaches approximately 75mm Hg. When the CO2 pressure reaches that level, the normal gas exchange in the lungs cannot function; loosely speaking, the body can't expel enough CO2 to make room for oxygen.
Thus, there's still enough oxygen to keep the person alive; it's the CO2 that kills him.
Elevated CO2 in the blood is called 'Hypercapnia'; you can use that term to search for more information.
Anonymous
Both, cause the person would take in all the o2 that is there in the glass chamber and sooner or later all the o2 will run out and therefore respiration will not take place (decrease in oxygen ),on the other hand since respiration give off co2,the co2 concentration will increase,(increase in carbon dioxide),and since co2 is a wast product of respiration it could not be used, and therefore that would to death. It is a 1:1chance
Mr.President
I would have to go with the decrease in oxygen. I don't know how long it takes to die by carbondioxide poisoning, but I'd bet we'd die faster from lack of oxygen.
Anonymous
The person will die because of increase of CO2 poisoning not due to lack of oxygen! Though it sounds strange, but, it is true!
gnat
Lack of oxygen would do it. the increase in CO2 would just be a side effect. When the lungs are unable to get oxygen into our bloodstream, our systems will start shutting down one by one.