:the-more-you-know:

You know, it’s funny–I’m indoors, and yet it seems distinctly misty in here all of a sudden…

This is cool.

For those interested, carbon monoxide is only a poison because of its structural and chemical similarity to carbon dioxide and molecular oxygen.

Hemoglobin has binding sites for oxygen so it can carry oxygen from your lungs to your cells so they can burn sugar for fuel. The binding site is specific to oxygen, but isn’t developed to hold it very tightly - this is so the oxygen will spontaneously leave the binding site when the hemoglobin travels to low-oxygen area.

These binding sites can also carry the carbon dioxide waste from the cells back to the lungs because O2 and CO2 have similar shapes and chemical traits, though less effectively.

Since CO (carbon monoxide) also has a similar shape and chemical trait to O2, it can also occupy those binding sites - this wouldn’t actually matter really, except now you can’t carry as much oxygen because some of your oxygen-carrying seats are occupied. If there’s enough carbon monoxide around you end up effectively suffocating, even though you’re breathing, because oxygen is no longer able to reach your cells to burn fuel.

Like oxygen, CO also binds relatively lightly, and when the subject is placed in a high oxygen environment the O2 will eventually replace all the CO in the binding sites. As long as the canary has experienced no damage from hypoxia or acidosis, it should return completely to normal. This is why if you think you’ve been exposed to carbon monoxide and are starting to feel dizzy the recommendation is to just go outside and lie down (before you fall down) on your back - eventually you should return to normal. (Of course call the poison line afterwards to get a professional opinion.)

Interesting sidebar if you look on the periodic table, you’ll see nitrogen sits right next to oxygen. Proximity on the periodic table isn’t always an indicator of chemical similarity, but it turns out to be relevant in this case.

If you replace the oxygen in CO with nitrogen we make CN, which turns out to also fit well in the binding sites for hemoglobin. The difference here is that CN is much “stickier”, and so when it blocks an oxygen-carrying site it tends to stay there, often for the rest of the lifespan of that hemoglobin molecule.

We call CN “cyanide”, and it’s a very potent poison because it blocks your blood cells from binding to oxygen but unlike CO, it’s pretty irreversible. A high enough dose will kill you very quickly.

Wow. Someone who works in and with the Earth feels connected with other beings of nature and sees value in life, much epic.

(Lol, sorry for being a poop. I am grateful to have this info. It makes sense, as the blasé snark points out. I had a cry earlier {you know, from being alive}. And this really pushed back at the gloom. I love this post and you, Comrade.)

:heart-sickle: