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What happens if you inhale carbon dioxide for just a second?
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Malcolm Campbell
What happens if you inhale carbon dioxide for just a second?
One day when I was young and foolish (still in graduate school), we’d gotten a shipment of something on dry ice, and we were playing with it. We’d put some into a lab sink (which are fairly deep) and run hot water in to create a thick fog, which filled the sink and slowly flowed over the edges. The gaseous part of the fog was mostly carbon dioxide, of course, and the mixture was dense enough that you could see waves in the surface if you disturbed it with your hand.
So far, not so foolish. Then I thought it would be interesting to stick my head in the fog and see what it looked like. And while my head was in there, I inhaled.
You know that burning sensation you get in the back of your nose when you burp after you’ve been drinking soda? That’s carbon dioxide reacting with the moisture in your nasal membranes to form carbonic acid. I had that same feeling, but all the way from my nose down into my lungs. It triggered a cataclysmic coughing fit that brought me to my knees, hanging on to the edge of the sink for support.
So that’s what happened when I inhaled carbon dioxide. Your mileage may vary.
One day when I was young and foolish (still in graduate school), we’d gotten a shipment of something on dry ice, and we were playing with it. We’d put some into a lab sink (which are fairly deep) and run hot water in to create a thick fog, which filled the sink and slowly flowed over the edges. The gaseous part of the fog was mostly carbon dioxide, of course, and the mixture was dense enough that you could see waves in the surface if you disturbed it with your hand.
So far, not so foolish. Then I thought it would be interesting to stick my head in the fog and see what it looked like. And while my head was in there, I inhaled.
You know that burning sensation you get in the back of your nose when you burp after you’ve been drinking soda? That’s carbon dioxide reacting with the moisture in your nasal membranes to form carbonic acid. I had that same feeling, but all the way from my nose down into my lungs. It triggered a cataclysmic coughing fit that brought me to my knees, hanging on to the edge of the sink for support.
So that’s what happened when I inhaled carbon dioxide. Your mileage may vary.
One day when I was young and foolish (still in graduate school), we’d gotten a shipment of something on dry ice, and we were playing with it. We’d put some into a lab sink (which are fairly deep) and run hot water in to create a thick fog, which filled the sink and slowly flowed over the edges. The gaseous part of the fog was mostly carbon dioxide, of course, and the mixture was dense enough that you could see waves in the surface if you disturbed it with your hand.
So far, not so foolish. Then I thought it would be interesting to stick my head in the fog and see what it looked like. And while my head was in there, I inhaled.
You know that burning sensation you get in the back of your nose when you burp after you’ve been drinking soda? That’s carbon dioxide reacting with the moisture in your nasal membranes to form carbonic acid. I had that same feeling, but all the way from my nose down into my lungs. It triggered a cataclysmic coughing fit that brought me to my knees, hanging on to the edge of the sink for support.
So that’s what happened when I inhaled carbon dioxide. Your mileage may vary.
One day when I was young and foolish (still in graduate school), we’d gotten a shipment of something on dry ice, and we were playing with it. We’d put some into a lab sink (which are fairly deep) and run hot water in to create a thick fog, which filled the sink and slowly flowed over the edges. The gaseous part of the fog was mostly carbon dioxide, of course, and the mixture was dense enough that you could see waves in the surface if you disturbed it with your hand.
So far, not so foolish. Then I thought it would be interesting to stick my head in the fog and see what it looked like. And while my head was in there, I inhaled.
You know that burning sensation you get in the back of your nose when you burp after you’ve been drinking soda? That’s carbon dioxide reacting with the moisture in your nasal membranes to form carbonic acid. I had that same feeling, but all the way from my nose down into my lungs. It triggered a cataclysmic coughing fit that brought me to my knees, hanging on to the edge of the sink for support.
So that’s what happened when I inhaled carbon dioxide. Your mileage may vary.
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