why does asphyxiation from carbon dioxide cause pain, but other gases such as nitrogen don’t?

Question

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

Answer 1

When CO2 is dissolved in your blood, it makes carbonic acid. Our bodies can detect the levels of carbonic acid, and if it builds up too much, we know it’s an issue and that’s what causes the pain.

A lack of oxygen, or asphyxiation with nitrogen doesn’t prevent you from exhaling CO2, so the CO2 never builds up. Our bodies also cant detect the levels of oxygen or nitrogen because they don’t form something easy to detect like carbonic acid when they are in our blood.

You can’t actually die of asphyxiation from CO2 because you’d die of CO2 poisoning first. The carbonic acid levels would build too high and start doing damage after overpowering the buffers that keep your pH in check.