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Asked by Higgins™ to Gavin, Karen, Mark, Michel, Roisin on 9 Nov 2016.
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Karen answered on 9 Nov 2016:
Yes, the optimum percentage of oxygen the air you breathe in is approx 20%. If you breathe in 100% oxygen it will alter you blood gases…carbon dioxide and oxygen… and the blood pH (whether the blood is acidic or alkaline) and can lead to organ failure and if The blood gas ratio is not corrected death.
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Michel Destrade answered on 9 Nov 2016:
It depends how much and at which pressure. My wife was given some (a couple of breaths) when she was given birth to my daughters, and she didn’t seem to mind! Apparently Apollo astronauts used to breathe 100% oxygen at low pressure and they were ok. But a normal or high pressure, it can become toxic and damage your lungs, or worse!
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Mark Kennedy answered on 10 Nov 2016:
Another way to look at this – oxygen isn’t flammable. But if you put a light fuel anywhere near pure oxygen…well..space rockets use this reaction to fly. So it would probably hurt if you were near it.
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Gavin Coleman answered on 10 Nov 2016:
Yes, if you are exposed to it for too long. Your body is happy with all the liquids and gasses at a certain ratio. If you were to breath 100% oxygen for a while (the usual percentage is about 20-21% for air you breath in, 15-16% for air you breath out, hence why it’s still possible to resuscitate people by breathing into them) your body would have trouble expelling other gasses, as well as the extra oxygen being free to do damage and react with your body. This could lead to free reactive oxygen floating around your body, which overwhelms your bodies natural antioxidant ability (not good), the pH of your blood can be change which also leads to damage, as well as damage to your nervous system.
However, by controlling the pressure which the oxygen is given to a person at, these effects can be avoided. As such, pure oxygen is made available to divers, can be used for pain relief, and is important for the survival of premature babies. Of course all of this is possible due to hard working scientists investigating the dangers and uses! -
Roisin Jones answered on 10 Nov 2016:
I think this question has been covered pretty in depth! Yes, in large enough quantities for long enough times, pure oxygen will definitely kill you, but the likelihood is you’ll never be in that situation, as people who are being given pure oxygen are closely monitored, and aren’t left on it for too long!
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