how do carbon monoxide detectors detect carbon monoxide?
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There are a few different types of detectors on the market. The cheapest ones have a pad covered with potassium disulfitopalladate. This chemical is normally yellow but will react with carbon monoxide and turn into metallic palladium which is black. A simple camera is set up to detect this color change and triggers the alarm if the pad changes color too fast.
There are also biometric sensors which use chemicals similar to hemoglobin which reacts with carbon monoxide and changes color. The advantage of this is that it detects the exact chemical reaction which make carbon monoxide poisonous to humans. There are also electrochemical ones which works in a similar way to a fuel cell or a battery using the carbon monoxide as part of a reaction to create an electrical current. This is far more accurate then other methods and use very little power so you typically find these detectors in professional equipment with a guage output.
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