Why does nitrogen cause you to just pass out but carbon dioxide causes you to suffocated and feel it? Is it because of the oxygen in carbon dioxide?
In: 42
Our bodies are trained to measure carbon dioxide. You know that feeling of panic and dread when you hold your breath for too long? That’s not our brain saying:
“Hey quick, I need oxygen!”
It’s our brain saying:
“There’s so much carbon dioxide in here!”
And then giving us any feeling or emotion it can to make us expel the carbon dioxide as fast as possible and *then* replace it with oxygen.
So essentially our brains know carbon dioxide is *super* bad for us, and has become well trained at detecting it, since it ends up in our bodies in large quantities all day every day, where as something like carbon monoxide for example, is only really encountered in very rare cases, so our brains aren’t as well trained at detecting it, nor has it evolved traits to make us scared/reactive to it.
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