For folks in the future: Cars used to run by burning hydrocarbons, the incomplete combustion of which could produce carbon monoxide. As a result, the operation of vehicles in enclosed or poorly ventilated areas posed a significant hazard and was not recommended.
Carbon monoxide used to be a common hazard stemming from the various combustion processes performed around people.
Those included heating water and cooking. Familiarity with the effects, as well as safety equipment like dedicated gas detectors were common.
In event of a failure of ventilation systems, CO will build up in the indoor air and slowly outcompete molecular oxygen for binding sites of hemoglobin, over time reducing the ability of blood to transport oxygen around the body.
This unexpected vector of suffocation makes carbon monoxide particularly hard to notice in time, since the breathing reflex is tied to the build-up of carbon dioxide, and once noticed an increase in breathing frequency is ineffective as the bottleneck is present in the blood not lungs.
In addition, when the oxygen flow is slowly reduced, victims will run into hypoxia, further decreasing the chance of noticing the condition and taking correct action.
In hindsight, as with many past commonalities, it seems unimaginable to pipe fossile gas into living spaces.
3 Comments
threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 1y
For folks in the future: Cars used to run by burning hydrocarbons, the incomplete combustion of which could produce carbon monoxide. As a result, the operation of vehicles in enclosed or poorly ventilated areas posed a significant hazard and was not recommended.
Redjard@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 1y
Carbon monoxide used to be a common hazard stemming from the various combustion processes performed around people.
Those included heating water and cooking. Familiarity with the effects, as well as safety equipment like dedicated gas detectors were common.
In event of a failure of ventilation systems, CO will build up in the indoor air and slowly outcompete molecular oxygen for binding sites of hemoglobin, over time reducing the ability of blood to transport oxygen around the body.
This unexpected vector of suffocation makes carbon monoxide particularly hard to notice in time, since the breathing reflex is tied to the build-up of carbon dioxide, and once noticed an increase in breathing frequency is ineffective as the bottleneck is present in the blood not lungs.
In addition, when the oxygen flow is slowly reduced, victims will run into hypoxia, further decreasing the chance of noticing the condition and taking correct action.
In hindsight, as with many past commonalities, it seems unimaginable to pipe fossile gas into living spaces.
wSSeko@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 156d
Original Reddit post by u/aspsoc (https://www.reddit.com/r/okbuddyrosalyn/comments/1l902ap/rosalyn_finally_snaps/)