Oxygen toxicity

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The Basket

Senior Master Sergeant
3,712
1,891
Jun 27, 2007
Did you know oxygen could be poisonous?

I wonder how this affected high altitude performance of pilots.
 
Honestly, I've basically for some time come to the conclusion that seemingly anything to excess is bad
 
I had a colleague in Saudi whose sole job was to ensure that only medical quality oxygen was delivered to hospitals from the bottling plant. There had been some mix up years before that killed some patients.
 
It probably depends on how much nitrogen is also in the air they are breathing ( like nitrogen narcosis in divers ). I have absolutely no idea how much of each gas is needed in either circumstance.
 
Once, in the 1970s the Atlanta morning drive radio DJs discussed the possibility of dihydrogen monoxide in the the Atlanta drinking water system and got the city head of water on the phone, who declared, "No, we ain't got none of that in our water system." They were fired before lunch.
 
gumbyk said:
Oxygen requires 100% at 1.6 bar (roughly 1.6 atm) to become toxic, so isn't a problem for flight. As said earlier, Apollo was 100% at 5psi, which is about 1/3 atm.
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The lower pressure helped with keeping the forces on the capsule to a minimum as well as reducing the weight of required gas storage. Back in the 1980's (or 1990's???) there was an "oxygen bar" fad where you could drop in for a drink and suck some O2. They should have opened up early every morning (especially weekends) for hangover treatments, as I understand pure O2 was a big help in that regard. Anyone ever go to one of these 'oxygen bars?'
 
Dihydrogen Monoxide is indeed dangerous as the crews of ships sunk in World War II could testify. However, some chemists would argue that hydrogen peroxide was significantly worse. For example, two chemist were ordering in a restaurant and the first asked for a glass of H2O. The second said that he would also have a glass of water. At that point the first chemist broke down in tears as his murder plot had failed.
 
glennasher said:
It probably depends on how much nitrogen is also in the air they are breathing ( like nitrogen narcosis in divers ). I have absolutely no idea how much of each gas is needed in either circumstance.
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All I know is when I get gassed I initially feel great! However, in the morning I usually feel like s—t...

Cheers,
Biff
 
I was watching a Russian film about Voskhod 2.

So breathing in a 100% oxygen atmosphere under pressure in a sealed container is dangerous.

So I learnt something from a film. Good to learn new flight medicine.
 
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