OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

[Roger Merchberger]

Rumor has it that Brad Parker may have mentioned these words:

>woodelf wrote:
> >>
> >>If you inhale a gas which is heavier than air, what happens?
> >>
> >>-brad
> >>
> >You die rather quickly as you can't get the BAD air out of your lungs.
>
>That's what I always thought, but it seemed like people were refuting
>that.  I thought the heavier gas sank into your lungs and displaced the 
>air, which made you suffocate, effectively.

It sounds like you're assuming a cumulative effect -- if that was the case, 
we'd never be able to get the CO2 [which is heavier than air] out of our lungs!

IANAD, but I would think that (at least in healthy people) the expulsion 
volume to total volume ratio of the lungs is rather high (60-70% maybe?) - 
and with the amount of air turbulence created during exhalation a lot of 
the argon/CO2/[insert heavy gas here] would be expelled. Once you breathe 
back in, as long as there's enough O2 to sustain life (and a low enough 
concentration of other molecules which would bind to hemoglobin quicker, 
say CO) you should be fine.

Otherwise, once anyone caught a bit of pneumonia, they'd be dead. Mucus is 
one heckuva lot heavier and more dense than argon or CO2!

In the example you gave, I would think the freon would knock him out a lot 
faster than the lack of O2 -- I've smelled it a few times, and I liken it 
to the CS gas I had to breathe in the US Army during boot camp -- nasty stuff.

Even lighter than air inert gasses (helium) can be bad for you in high 
enough concentrations, if they still displace enough O2. You'd just have to 
climb a ladder instead of lay on the floor to be susceptible, tho. ;-)

>All I can say is good thing someone heard the "thud"...

Very true!

Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger

--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers
zmerch at 30below.com

What do you do when Life gives you lemons,
and you don't *like* lemonade?????????????