If we inhale air to get oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, why is oxygen by itself deadly?

Question

And do they put carbon dioxide inside those oxygen tubes?

In: 0

Answer 1

The oxygen we breathe isn’t directly deadly because it’s bound to hemoglobin (iron containing protein that carries oxygenated blood from lungs to the tissues). However, breathing in pure oxygen can lead to formation of superoxide free radicals (oxygen with a free electron in its outer ring) can lead to damage to the fat that makes up our cell membrane leading to cell death