if nitrogen is everywhere, why is it a big deal if there is a nitrogen leak?
In: Chemistry
You drink water, why is it a big deal if I spray you with a fire hose?
When you’re in a room filled 3/4ths with water; you’re fine.
When you’re in a room filled entirely with water, you drown.
Same concept with nitrogen.
a nitrogen mask would be my choice if I was staring down a slow but terminal illness… after living as much quality remaining life as I could
It’s not that nitrogenous is poisonous, it’s the lack of oxygen that is the issue. If nitrogen is leaking in a space, the concentration of oxygen will decrease significantly. The thing about nitrogen is that, unlike CO2, it’s not a metabolic waste product so our bodies would still take it in and eventually we’d pass out and die.
Nitrogen is a simple asphyxiant meaning it displaces oxygen. No oxygen means you can’t breathe, which is obviously bad.
What makes this worse is that CO2 is responsible for the ‘pain’ of no air, so with Nitrogen you can’t even tell there is no oxygen.
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