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
Honestly even if CO2 would be big enough to stay in the mask-mouth region the concentration in our exhaling air would still be <1%.
IF gases couldn’t travel through cloth, which they can’t, we would die on a low oxygen level since this concentration would decrease steadily. We would be out of oxygen waaaaaay before the CO2 level is high enough to even harm us.
IF the CO2 in our breath could increase the level of CO2 in the air to that amount before the oxygen level gets too low for us we would probably die alone in a room with closed windows, because that’s the same situation on a bigger scale.
It’s just an argument that falls apart after you think about it for like 5 seconds. Which Anti-maskers won’t because they don’t like to.
Your lungs have a volume of around 2 liters. The space inside your mask has a volume of a few millilitres. When you breathe 2 litres of gas out, around 0.01% of that stays in your mask. When you breathe in 2 litres of gas, 99.99% is fresh air and 0.01% is the stale air trapped in your mask.
The amount of co2 trapped is miniscule and does 0 harm. I mean, what volume of air is between your mask and your nose? Like a millimeter? It’s not like you’re putting a bag over your head. There probably more co2 trapped I. Your house or car.
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240,000 people have died of COVID so far this year. I have only heard of one death due to a mask, which was a person wearing an N95 whole driving who passed out and crashed.
CO² doesn’t “get stuck” in the mask, the same way that oxygen doesn’t get stuck outside of it, suffocating you.
You exhale, and the spent oxygen passes through the mask and away from your face.
It’s pretty simple, grade-school stuff. Which is why anti-maskers don’t get it.
Just to add, N95 and proper surgical type masks are made of non woven polypropylene which has a static charge and acts like a magnet, attracting and holding minute particles. The N95’s are also treated with a citric acid and copper solution which kills bacteria and viruses. This is why it’s not a good idea to wash them, as it removes the static and the copper/citric treatment, making them less effective. Instead, the simplest way to sterilise both types(as developed by hospitals desperate to prolong their mask supply) is to heat them, either dry or in a closed container with a few drops of water on a piece of kitchen roll, at 60C for an hour. This kills coronavirus without damaging the masks.
Grab a balloon, blow into it once and tie it off. That’s how much space the CO2 takes up when you breathe it out. Now try to fit that balloon in between your face and the mask your mask doesn’t leave nearly enough room to retain all of that old air, so your exhalations spread out into the atmosphere basically as normal and you can subsequently breathe in fresh air without issue. The mask is more for catching the non-air particles like moisture that come out when you breathe.
Think about how little air fits between your mask and your face compared to the size of a breath. Not much is getting trapped.
In theory, you are also reinhaling the volume of air in your trachea, a mask adds a little bit more.
Your body would naturally adapt a slightly faster breathing rate, as it does all the time to balance blood O2 levels based on local atmosphere and exertion levels.
This is similar to those full face snorkel masks. Though those do add a significant amount of recycled air which can lead to problems, especially when you consider snorkels are used during a physical activity.
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