How is it not dangerous to breathe in the CO2 that we breathe out into our masks?

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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

43 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

For one, CO2 isn’t dangerous, it’s not toxic. You could suffocate if you walked into a room full of it, but that’s not the case here. You only exhale less than 5% CO2

And the volume of of air trapped in the mask is maybe 100ml.

The average residual volume of air in your lungs after exhaling is around 1200ml. That volume in the mask would simply be added to this. If around an 8% increase in this volume is going to hurt you…Well…Uhhh…Have you died recently because you breathed shallowly a few times?

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