Why is Carbon, the building block of life, safe when eating or drinking (carbonated water), but not when breathing (carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide)?
In: Biology
Breathing carbon is safe until it displaces enough oxygen to decrease pulmonary efficiency. Some degree of carbon dioxide is present is all the air we breathe. Carbon monoxide is particularly pernicious because of its ability to saturate hemoglobin more readily than oxygen.
Even oxygen can become toxic under pressures not experienced by the average person. Technical divers who work at depths beyond recreational scuba limits often use heavier nitrogen mix or even helium mixed gases to avoid oxygen toxicity. As with all things in life, balance is the key.
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