How does the lungs know which is O2 and CO2? We breathe a ton of different gasses daily but what happens to the other gases other than O2 and CO2 when inhaled?

Question

How does the lungs know which is O2 and CO2? We breathe a ton of different gasses daily but what happens to the other gases other than O2 and CO2 when inhaled?

In: 729

Answer 1

With respect to “what happens to the other gases” part of your question, those are absorbed by your blood also. That can be helpful (it’s a common way of administering anesthetics ) or bad (Carbon Monoxide poisoning) or neutral (there’s a lot of nitrogen in your blood which, as long as you don’t have significant changes in pressure, just stays there doing not-that-much.)