Comment by maxerickson
3 years ago
The CO2 concentration going up in the blood increases the efficiency of respiration (because it is ultimately diffusion).
You don't necessarily need to exchange 10 times the volume of air to deal with the additional CO2.
Range given for concentration of CO2 on exhaled air is 4-5%
So it looks like it could be 25% difference at most.
I doubt the 4-5% you saw is a first principle of breathing.
Why not? CO2 levels in blood must be tightly controlled. It probably can't get twice as high as usual.
If there's already 4% of CO2 in the air around you it's an immediate danger. While you can spend 10 minutes in 3%. If your body could bump up CO2 in exhaled air from 4% to 8% then you'd probably have bo problem surviving in air thay contains 4%.
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