On 2 Feb 2006 05:06:53 -0800, "Bryan Martin"
wrote:

Try searching on the terms "carbon dioxide poisoning" and
"Hypercapnia" instaid. CO2 is toxic but is nowhere near as toxic as CO.
CO2 can act as a simple asphyxiant and kill by displacing oxygen or it
can kill from its toxic effects. It's much more likely to kill by
asphyxiation. It generally takes some unusual circumstances to
encounter its toxic effects and it takes a fair amount of time for
these effects to become dangerous. This is probably why it's not
usually considered a poison, usually it will suffocate you long before
it can poison you. CO will nearly always kill from its toxic effects
rather than simple asphyxiation because there is rarely enough of it
around to displace much oxygen in the atmosphere. CO2 poisoning is
usually only a concern if you are breathing a canned atmosphere with
plenty of oxygen but no way to get rid of the CO2.

carbon monoxide is about 210 times as active in binding with
hemoglobin as oxygen. carbon monoxide can react out all of your
hemoglobin so that no oxygen transport occurs and you die of
asphyxiation. (only about 10% of oxygen dissolves in plasma and that
isnt enough to keep you alive)

carbon dioxide in the blood forms carbonic acid and can alter the
blood pH enough to denature enzyme reactions in the body.
(a lot of the enzymes are curled up long molecules that are only
chemically active when certain parts of molecular loops are in near
proximity. when denatured through pH or temperature they straighten
out and the chemical processes they are involved with simply stop.)

Stealth pilot