Ramblings, rants and idle thoughts

Hey, that's what I got. I don't know which ones I got wrong though. 60% is not too bad because it is only out of 5.

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Ok. Being there are 5 questions, each question is worth 20 points. I couldn't think of 10 questions about myself that would be general knowledge without a lot of research.

So the score would break down as follows:
0 wrong = 100 = A (Either you know me very well, or I should be very paranoid. :=3 )
1 wrong = 80 = B
2 wrong = 60 = C
3 wrong = 40 = D
4 wrong = 20 = D- (No "E" in US grading systems.)
5 wrong = 0 = F (Why did you take the test?)

Now I know this doesn't follow normal US grading standards that put a "C" at around a 70 or so, but it's a good indicator of how well you know me. :=3

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A C?! NOOOO! My spotless 4.03 GPA is ruined! I DON'T get C's! *gets paper bag and starts hyperventilating into it* ;)
=3

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You should be glad that I didn't use the standard US grading system, lest you would've gotten a "D". :=3

BTW, didn't I tell you I have a hose connected to that paper bag? The other end is connected to a helium tank.

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Perfect Score!

I pays attenshun an' shtuff. ;)

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Very good BT.

Now, should I be paranoid? :=3

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Yes. You should be paranoid. For a variety of reasons. Another one being that since you put a helium connection to my air bag, I decided to put a hose of methane gas in through your window. =3
Be thankful it wasn't Chlorine gas. ^_^

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But helium only makes you talk funny, whereas methane is very flammable. :=/

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Actually, helium suffocates you if you are using it as a direct source of oxygen (like in a paper bag for hyperventilation where the body is trying to pull in as much air as possible.)
Oh, sorry, I meant to use sulfur instead. (That stuff smells like rotten eggs. I always get methane and sulfer mixed up in Chemistry.)

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Yes. Be afraid. Be very afraid. I'm coming over for territory battles or something. ;)

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We got to play with JP10 in chemistry in my high school. :) That was *one* class that was never boring.

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JP10?! I thought it only went to 7.. If you fired a bullet into JP7, it doesn't even explode. (Not even if you dropped a lit match on it.) But if it was JP3 or JP4, it would burst into flames. I think JP10 would be like Vasaline.

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My memory's swiss cheesed, otherwise I'd remember more, but I *did* have a rocket scientist (literally) for my chemistry teacher, so he would have had the access...

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vik_thor

methinks I know the question I missed.....
name of the RR...

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You are correct if you put in huge quantities of helium as to displace all the O2. However small quanitites will not harm you.

As an ex-EMT, I have to disagree with you saying "as a direct source of oxygen". The only way to do that is to have an O2 tank, line and pressure/demand mask.

Anyway, the reason to breathe into a paper bag is not to increase your O2 (oxygen) levels as you might expect, it is to increase you CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels. You need a certain amount of CO2 levels, in your bloodstream, to breathe normally. You can stop yourself from hyperventilating (too much breathing) by holding your breath. In stopping hyperventilation you are trying to stop the body from pulling in too much air/O2.

From the book Diseases part of the "Nurse's Reference Library", here is one treatment, for hyperventilation, and why it is used:

... In severe respiratory alkalosis, the patient may be instructed to breathe into a paper bag, which helps relieve acute anxiety and increases CO2 levels.

You have to remember that I was an EMT an my mom is a RN. :=3

You must remember that although the atomsphere has ~20% O2, the human body only uses ~4% of the atomspheric O2, and there is no way to artifically increase that, outside of drugs. In using a paper bag, after your first exhale, the bag would have ~16% atomspheric oxygen. You also have to consider that a paper bag is not airtight. If it were, you would run out of oxgen after 5 breaths. That is why they tell you to use a paper bag, not a plastic bag. The plasic bag is air tight and you will suffocate yourself. Also any helium that might be piped into said paper bag would definitely try to escape through the "pores" of said paper bag. So the overall mixture in a paper bag would have a higher O2 to He ratio than may first be apparent.

The only reason to use a direct source of O2 would be in the case "hypoventilation" (not enough breathing), as in there is not enough air/O2 getting to the lungs. Actually, when doing two man CPR, and using a pressure demand mask, and even mouth to mouth, you are told that in the field to hyperventilate the patient. You want to get as much O2 into the patient as possible.

Granted sulfur is not as bad as methane, but in its gaseous state it is still highly posionous in relatively low concretations, though not as bad as chlorine.

I'll now end this discourse on physiology. :=3

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BTW, Nekomimi-kun, you should not feel stupid or anything about the real reason to breathe into a paper bag as a cure for hyperventilation. It's a common misunderstanding, as most people don't know that you do need a certain level of CO2 in your blood to help regulate your breathing.

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Yepper. :=3

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