Carbon Monoxide — The Silent Killer

Day 163 / 365

We are all aware of the dangers of Carbon dioxide or CO2. But not so much about its close relative CO, Carbon Monoxide. CO is formed during incomplete combustion, which basically means when stuff burns but there isn’t enough oxygen around. CO can get into your bloodstream and prevent it from absorbing oxygen. Even if you are exposed to small concentrations for a long time, it can be deadly. Which is why it’s called the Silent Killer.

Let me explain to you how harmful it can be with a story from Reddit. A few years ago a guy wrote a post on r/legaladvice. He was living in a rented apartment and he was worried that his landlord was secretly spying on him and getting into the apartment when he was asleep. Why did he think that? well, he was seeing posted noted left around which he was certain that he didn’t right. He wanted to know how he could take legal action against the landlord.

Now a guy saw that post and pointed out that maybe he was writing the notes himself and then just forgetting about them. He said that memory loss like this is a symptom for CO poisoning and advised the guy to buy a CO detector for his apartment. The guy followed his advice and sure enough, found that due to lack of windows and ventilation in his apartment, the CO levels were indeed very high. This random person on the internet literally saved this guys life!

You should check out the full post on Reddit here —

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog —Why do we blow the candles on our birthday cakes?