Date:         Fri, 13 Nov 1998 22:43:14 -0600
Reply-To:     Joshua Van Tol <jjvantol@USWEST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joshua Van Tol <jjvantol@USWEST.NET>
Subject:      CO vs CO2 One's poisonous, the other's not.
Comments: To: Jason Yasment <yazgod@HOTMAIL.COM>, vanagon@vanagon.com
In-Reply-To:  <19981114042237.17117.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>Listees,
>   I have to pass on the importance of a battery powered CO2 detector
>while camping.  A good a friend of mine who I served in the Middle Eas
>with passed away in military housing a few weeks ago along with his four
>sons.  While using any sort of heater inside your van please spend the
>$20 for a good detector.

I agree, but you want a CO detector (carbon monoxide) rather than CO2,
which, while harmful in that it displaces oxygen, won't take the place of
oxygen in your hemoglobin.

I.e. CO can actually poison you because CO is preferentially absorbed by
hemoglobin over oxygen, while CO2 can only cause asphyxiation. You'd still
be dead, but it takes a lot more CO2 to kill you than CO, and the effects
of CO are cumulative over an hour or so.

BTW any compressed gas that's not poisonous is still dangerous in that it
can displace oxygen. Compressed oxygen is also dangerous, because almost
anything burns really well in the presence of pure oxygen.

Joshua Van Tol -- jjvantol@lear.csp.ee.memphis.edu