Don't confuse CO2 and CO. CO2 - Carbon Dioxide - fairly benign CO - Carbon Monoxide - toxic CO2 is fairly benign unless it simply displaces all the oxygen present so there is no oxygen to breathe. . But CO is another matter. It combines with the hemoglobin in the red blood cells (actually the iron) that transports oxygen to the cells in the body. Hemoglobin had a much greater affinity for the CO (carbon monoxide than the O2 (oxygen). Therein lies the danger. The CO displaces the oxygen that would normally be carried in the blood and you suffocate to death by way of cellular suffocation. CO binding with the hemoglobin is a permanent condition and impairment. CO poisoning is overcome only by medical assistance and administration of medical oxygen to aid the surviving red blood cells carry enough O2 for survival until one is fully recovered, the damaged red cells eliminated and the CO gone from the body. There is serious biochemistry going on there. CO poisoning is VERY sneaky. Odorless, tasteless, colorless, CO can get you and you won't even know it. That is what makes it so dangerous, and one cannot take any chances with it. If it sneaks into your bed, you don't get a second chance. Regards, John Rodgers 88 GL Driver x2 Regards, John Rodgers 88 GL Driver x2 Geza Polony wrote: >I think the key in CO tests is keeping the top up. That canvas is seriously >porous, even without holes like mine has, and it provides a huge amount of >air transfer that you wouldn't get in a regular car with the windows up. > >It also strikes me that two adults, a child, and a dog will convert a large >amount of O2 to CO just by breathing, maybe more than a small propane >flame--I don't know. > > > > |
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