I’ve heard a lot of anti-maskers use the argument that since we breathe out CO2, it will become trapped in the mask and is dangerous to breathe back in.
Obviously, this isn’t the case, because doctors wear their masks for hours and hours on end while doing surgeries. However, I am wondering, how does it work?
In: Biology
The air is about 400 parts per million CO2, or around 0.04%. It takes 3-5% before you start showing any symptoms from excess CO2, and more like 10-12% before it kills you, so around 100-250 TIMES higher concentration. Its very hard to achieve that in an unsealed environment like a mask. Even buried in an avalanche, people usually remain conscious for around 15 minutes with their face pressed directly into the snow.
Also, you’re able to smell CO2 at high concentrations, its the sharp tingling burning smell above a freshly opened can of soda. If there was enough CO2 building up to be dangerous, you would know about it.
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I find Its mostly the warmth and moisture capture from using the mask proporly which makes it uncomfortable.
I work fast food, wear a mask 9 hrs a day. Have asthma, don’t exercise, eat McD 2+ meals a day.
Masks are no problem. Just remember all of your breathing holes need to be covered.
As others have said, the CO2 is small enough to just leave the mask. What you’re actually breathing in is the moisture from your own breath and it is warm because the mask traps some of the heat that you breathe out. While it may feel uncomfortable to breathe in wet, warm air (it certainly does to me), it’s only as dangerous as breathing on a humid day.
An adults lungs are about 6l or ~1.5 gallons in capacity. You mask maybe 100ml in volume. Even if those masks could hold their volume in CO2 then that CO2 would be negligible. When compared to swimming, you may use up-to a 6″ snorkel before “unable to clear exhaust” becomes an issue so that piece of cloth is negligible so far as holding co2 is concerned.
What is significant is resistance, and moisture & dirt.
– Resistance means you must work that much harder to draw air in. Think smothering, think water boarding. Clearly you don’t want a mask who effectively smothers you.
– Moisture & dirt means organisms have a place to live and grow so a mask quickly becomes a source of self infection not only by what you hope to avoid but also by all organisms living in your environment. So keep it washed, keep it clean & dry, and no you don’t want to be sucking on poisonous perfumed soap all day either.
Alot of people, including myself before, wore masks several hours at a time. CO2 just dissipates through the mask.
CO2 itself isn’t dangerous. Our special proteins in our red blood cells preferentially bind oxygen in the air we breathe. If the proportion of oxygen in each breathe is decreased substantially, then it might pose a problem but we breathe in Carbon Dioxide all the time. But oxygen comes with it.
The CO2 molecules diffuse through the mask much like the gaseous exchange that takes place I our lungs this can occur much easier than if it were the virus diffusing as the CO2 molecules are much smaller than the virus
Two reasons:
1) The mask isn’t a perfect airtight seal. Gas particles can still get through. Virus particles are much bigger (and float on even bigger water droplets) so get stuck.
2) You don’t breathe out that much CO2. Sure, exhaled air has more CO2 and less O2 than fresh air, but the difference isn’t so big that it makes a huge difference that quickly. If you were in a sealed box, you’d eventually use up all the oxygen. But you can breathe the same air a few times without issue. This is how CPR works. If we *only* exhaled CO2, then you’d be poisoning someone when you tried to revive them!
First some simple facts:
* Coronavirus particles are 120 nanometers,
* The pore size in N95 masks is generally 100 nanometers
– so the mask will block coronavirus particles from getting in
* Carbon dioxide is 0.232 nanometers
– so the masks will *not* prevent carbon dioxide from getting out.
So you are not “breathing CO2 into your mask”, the CO2 is expelled easily through the mask into the surrounding air.
**It is that simple.**
How can people be so stupid?
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