Alabama is seeking to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen.
The Alabama attorney general’s office on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58. The court filing indicated Alabama plans to put him to death by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method that is authorized in three states but has never been used.
Nitrogen hypoxia is caused by forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen and causing them to die. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen. While proponents of the new method have theorized it would be painless, opponents have likened it to human experimentation.
theres actually a thing called nitrogen narcosis. while i still find states that use the death penalty abhorrent, its one of the nicer ways to go. while breathing a pure oxygen-defficient gas you also dont have a feeling that you are suffocating since you can breathe off carbon dioxide just fine. thats why exit bags are a thing in the first place
You can’t breathe carbon dioxide like you can breathe oxygen. Nitrogen works well because it’s soluble in the body and will replace oxygen, meaning aside from the mental effects, you don’t notice it.
CO2 doesn’t work the same, though. It won’t replace oxygen and will produce a feeling of suffocation.
That’s what he’s saying. You can exhale the CO2 and breathe in the nitrogen.
CO2 is what causes the burning sensation in the lungs when you hold your breath too long.
Not entirely true. CO2 won’t reabsorb but the inability to get rid of what’s already there will cause it to build up. It’s the presence of excess CO2 that causes the body’s suffocation response. This is why people sleep right through being suffocated by CO and why they theorize that nitrogen will have the same response
for diving it is quite different though.
Nitrogen high starts (with normal pressurized air) at around 40m depths which means 5bar pressure or roughly 4bar partial pressure for the nitrogen. It then starts getting into your synapses partly blocking them.
even with 100% pure nitrogen at normal pressure you just get 1bar. So you wont get high from it.
Content warning >!linking to a method of suicide!<