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
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.
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