Andy Dingley wrote:
On Thu, 5 Jan 2006 07:35:29 -0800, "Steve B"
wrote:

If you suspect you or someone is affected, look at their nails. Cyanosis,
bluing of nailbeds and lips, is a sign.

That's usually a sign that they're already dead (or good as). CO is
hazardous enough that it has a good chance of killing long before
visible signs are evident. And for that matter they'll turn a deep pink
from CO, rather than blue.
(snip)

In my practice of yoga I occasionally induce syncope (fainting from low
blood pressure). Most yogis do not practice this way. It seems about a
50% reduction of blood pressure and associated (unknown %) reduction in
flow to the brain can induce a loss of conciousness. What is happening
is the brain is continuously metabolizing oxygen at about 20 watts, so
it just sucks the oxygen right out of the blood, and metabolism stops.

The way this is relevant to the thread is that it's a timed effect. One
cannot sustain induced syncope for long. However, with exposure to CO
and so the blockade of O2 capacity, the blood carries and delivers less
O2 to the brain for a long time; as long as it takes for the CO to
respirate (diffuse, ventilate). More CO in the circulating blood, less
capacity to deliver O2. 9 pints of the red stuff, and I think less than
one gram of circulating O2 or CO, maybe on the order of a milligram.

Let's see 20 respirations per minute, is it about a liter each or five
liters? So that's 1 or maybe 5 moles per minute. Around 40 or 200 grams
per minute; 20% is absorbed. So a flow of 8 or 40 grams per minute.
Back to volume that's a regulator flow of, er, the square root of three
times the cosine of Ethiopia, I'd say....

Circulation of 9 pints takes of order a minute or maybe 10 minutes, but
I am so uncertain about that, why continue?

Argon/CO mix used for TIG welding steel is particularly hazardous.
Argon displaces O2 in free air, CO displaces O2 in the blood.

I write much of the above from a careful study of recreational N2O use.
Ever hear of Olney's lesions? Brrr. That's another topic. The only use
of N2O in metalworking I know of is with butane in small Sparklets. 8
gm size; one of these of pure CO, inhaled, and held, would likely end
one's life, but the standard suicide warning would apply:

What If It Just Gave You a Headache? Brrrr.

Is it called producer gas, the low-value mix of CO and H2?

Doug Goncz
Replikon Research
Falls Church, VA 22044-0394