is PURE oxygen poisonous?

Question

don't answer if you don't know

Answer 1

Yes it is poisonous. And the unpurified air around us isnt dangerous to us because only trace amounts of the elements are present. We are talking about 100% of something.

The question said dont answer if you dont know, and clearly you dont know if you said it isnt. So why answer? Especially with sarcasm. Do your research people.

Answer 2

Not necessarily but there are certain activities where it is deadly and dangerious.

In Diving
Oxygen at an elevated partial pressure may have a toxic effect. Surplus oxygen affects the central nervous system (CNS) or the pulmonary system during extended exposure, as in medical therapy. Ordinary air is 21% oxygen at 1 ATM, or sea level with a pressure of 3.09 psi (Dalton's Law 21% of 14.7 = 3.09). Oxygen toxicity can take place at a partial pressure equal to 29.4 psi. If the diver is utilizing pure oxygen this will occur at 2 ATM or 33 feet, with compressed air it would be 297ft. Oxygen poisoning will never be a hindrance to a diver who dives within the 130 feet limit. However with Nitrox the incidence of oxygen poisoning is increasing. Where the rescue diver may encounter it is in chamber therapy, scene calls to commercial divers, or divers utilizing Nitrox and closed circuit systems. The toxic affect can induce convulsions so the rescuer should be attentive.

Warning Signs:
Visual field reduction, an abnormality comparable to tunnel vision.

Tinnitus (ringing or roaring sound inside the ear)

Nausea, which may be intermittent.

Changes in behavior such as irritability or confusion.

Dizziness

Tingling or numb feeling around the mouth.

Muscle twitching usually in the face.

Unusual fatigue

Not all symptoms will materialize and most are not exclusively symptoms of oxygen poisoning. Muscle twitching is the best warning of oxygen toxicity. Convulsions can befall without warning. Do not give the victim 100% oxygen. After a convulsion, recovery is rapid with no lingering aftermath. If a victim is in a recompression chamber and starts convulsing, he should be protected from injury and have his airway guarded.

In closed systems like space craft.

It also makes things that do not normally burn easily ....... Apollo I on the January 27, 1967, at 6:31 p.m., during a mock launch sequence, a fire broke out in the spacecraft. Fueled by the pure oxygen atmosphere intended for the flight, flames engulfed the capsule and the astronauts died of asphyxiation.

• Virgil “Gus” Grissom

• Edward White II

• Roger Chaffee

The Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, a publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. "Pure oxygen at five pounds per square inch of pressure," he wrote, "presents a fire hazard which is especially great on the launching pad. . . . Even a small fire creates toxic products of combustion; no fire-fighting methods have yet been developed that can cope with a fire in pure oxygen."

Answer 3

In scuba class,

we learned that pure oxygen is good for a lot of things when you aren't under water, but above 2 or 3 atm partial pressure (can't remember which) it will KILL you very quickly.

Divers who go really deep take multiple tanks with them with different O2 concentrations because of this fact.

More background:

When you use scuba gear, the tank releases gas at the same pressure as the water around you. Every 33 feet of water is roughly an atmosphere. This means you use up air twice as fast as the surface at a depth of 33 feet. Also, if you take pure oxygen with you, the partial pressure will double at 33 feet. Go deep enough, and it will kill you. If you take a very low concentration of oxygen (with another filler gas like helium) you may not be able to survive on the surface (too low concentration) but when you get deeper, the partial pressure increases and it becomes usable.

Pure oxygen at 1 atm helps you recover from Nitrogen saturation-related problems.

Answer 4

I am an MD. Oxygen is a highly reactive substance and it is highly toxic to all life forms on Earth. Oxygen was the first environmental crisis in Earth's history, when green plants dumped so much of this waste product into the air that it caused a major mass extinction. Only life forms that could adapt to deal with this highly toxic substance were able to survive. Shortly thereafter, species evolved that could actually utilize oxygen to make energy, and aerobic metabolism was born. But oxygen remains toxic to this day. It generates what are known as "free radicals" in the body, which are thought to cause cancer as well as a host of degenerative diseases. Anti-oxidant vitamins, such as A,C, and E can help ward off the harmful effects of oxygen. When humans are intubated and placed on artificial breathing machines, Oxygen levels over 80% can be very harmful to the lungs, especially if administered for long periods (weeks, months) and especially if delivered at higher pressures. So the answer is YES.

Answer 5

Breathing pure oxygen over a period of time may lead to serious lung irritation. And, breathing pure oxygen at pressures greater than 1 atmosphere can lead to fatal consequences.

Years ago there was a scuba introduced that allowed the diver to breathe pure oxygen. Because of the design, the small bottle of oxygen, about the size of today's pony bottles, allowed the diver to remain underwater for up to 4 hours! The unit had the appearance similar to an accordion. The air was extracted from it and then it was filled with oxygen from the bottle. As one breathed the bag would get smaller. As one breathed out the exhaled air would enter the bag and it would get bigger again. However, the amount of oxygen returning would be less due to the body's needs so more oxygen would have to be added as it was consumed. To remove the poisonous CO2 in the exhaled air there was a canister that contained caustic Barium Hydroxide (similar to Drano). As the exhaled air passed through the canister the chemical would combine with the CO2 removing it from the breathing oxygen. So, the oxygen molecules were breathed over and over again until they were converted to CO2. The unit was called a rebreather.

Conventional scuba is wasteful. A breath is taken, 21% oxygen goes into the lungs, 18% comes out. Little CO2 goes in and about 4% comes out. Even though there is plenty of oxygen left in the exhaled air, it is discharged into the water. Just to get rid of the CO2 we waste the oxygen. Conventional scuba is know as an "open-circuit" breathing apparatus. Oxygen rebreathers are called, "closed-circuit." Rebreathers emit no bubbles unless the diver is ascending and the bag gets too full. So, U.S. Navy Seals use rebreathers to avoid detection!

If a person breathes pure oxygen at a pressure above 1 atmosphere there is a possibility of it becoming toxic. Above 2 atmospheres almost insures it. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) prohibits their divers from exceeding 1.6 atmospheres of oxygen. The higher the pressure, the faster the poisoning. High-pressure oxygen toxicity starts with the twitching of smaller muscles that are in use such as the ones around the mouth holding the mouthpiece. Then the twitching can lead to full-blown convulsions. Needless to say, convulsions and diving do not really go together! Using a closed-circuit rebreather at 33' would allow the diver to breathe 2 atmospheres of oxygen.

The U.S. Navy Seals are a hearty lot. They have a rather rigorous training program. They must be oxygen tolerant. One of the parts to that training consists of weeding out those that convulse easily when breathing pure oxygen. Potential Seals are required to sit in an oxygen atmosphere equivalent to 60' of seawater for 30 minutes. If convulsions do occur they are quickly returned to breathing air and booted out of the program.

Answer 6

Every gas is poisonous in certain amounts. So, yes, you can most certainly die from oxygen poisoning. This is a problem in scuba diving, seeing that they can''t have too little oxygen or too much oxygen pumped into the mouthpiece.

Answer 7

Duhh, no. It might take a little getting used to because our air is filled with so many other components. I heard of this famous guy once selling 'Pure oxygen', like it was a drink. It was expensive & a lot of people came to his store to get maskfuls of pure oxygen. What losers.
WOAH! Your yahoo! answers picture is SCARE-EEY! ROFL. That is soo funny. Heehehh.

Answer 8

At or above 30 psi of seawater depth it will kill you as quickly as Cyanide gas.

Answer 9

Not at sea level atmospheric pressure. But at twice this pressure it can cause convulsions and death. So it's a bad idea for a scuba diver to breathe pure oxygen.

Answer 10

No, it is not poisonous, however if you breath it in for a long time you can get light headed, or start to get a headache. It is also highly flammable.