Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Breathing under liquid!? Fluorinert/FC40

LD5050 - 8-11-2017 at 13:11

I came across a video on YouTube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a4gYv2BK-HQ
Where they talk about a a saturated fluorocarbon that absorbs enough oxygen that a rat can actually breath while submersed under the fluid. This just seems really interesting to me I was wondering if anyone knows more about it. Unfortunately the rats or mice die shorty after around a day or two after coming out of the liquid...pretty cool...

The Volatile Chemist - 8-11-2017 at 17:54

How long can they stay in there, if they die after they come out...?

LD5050 - 9-11-2017 at 05:09

I guess they can live and breath in this liquid for a couple days. After they come out of the liquid I'm guessing (since our lungs aren't designed to pump liquid ) the fluid damages the lungs and after two days of being out of the FC40 they slowly die. Humans would be able to breath submersed in this fluid as well but obviously no body has tried this except for rats.

I should add this stuff is realy easy to get as well online. They use it to clean circuit boards and things I guess.

[Edited on 11-9-2017 by LD5050]

Rhodanide - 9-11-2017 at 11:20

Quote: Originally posted by LD5050  
I came across a video on YouTube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a4gYv2BK-HQ
Where they talk about a a saturated fluorocarbon that absorbs enough oxygen that a rat can actually breath while submersed under the fluid. This just seems really interesting to me I was wondering if anyone knows more about it. Unfortunately the rats or mice die shorty after around a day or two after coming out of the liquid...pretty cool...


Apparently there's also the issue of it being (quite obviously) a liquid. This being said, a liquid is much, much more difficult for the lungs to process than air is, or any other gas for that matter. Who knows, maybe it's death is due to exhaustion. The other issue is absorbing enough oxygen into the liquid to keep it at levels so the organism won't suffocate. You can see on the video that there's tubes leading into the liquid, which are bubbling what I can only assume is either air or Oxygen. That being said, I can't see it being more efficient than good ol' air! :D
However, I do know there is valid use of Fluorinert in the medical and Veterinary field(s) for victims of burns to the lungs.

Tsjerk - 9-11-2017 at 11:50

One major problem, next to the slowly dying, is the viscousity of the liquid being orders of a magnitude higher than that of air.

Normally we can happily breath air without having to worry about depleting the couple of cubic meters around us of oxygen... air freely diffuses with a rate allowing proper mixing long before this would happen.

This liquid on the other hand.... you will deplete your last couple of breathes of oxygen, which you then inhale again, making sure it is really depleted, just to .... yes, breath it again.

Assured Fish - 9-11-2017 at 12:33

There may be another potential use for such a liquid.
Producing one hell of a vacuum using an aspirator :D
All we would need is a few liters of this fluorinert and a suitable pump and of coarse our handy dandy aspirator.

Although the viscosity might make this rather tricky.

j_sum1 - 9-11-2017 at 14:27

Such things have been suggested for premature babies. One of the biggest problems with premmies is that their lungs are uderdeveloped and do not handle air well. In utero their lungs are filled with liquid and they (obviously) are not relying on them for oxygen supply.

I am not sure where the research is up to at this point.

Dr.Bob - 20-11-2017 at 18:27

My friend Ed made some of these fluorocarbons years ago, they did do many tests looking towards them as synthetic blood (due to their oxygen carrying capacity), as well as fluids for babies, but none proved very good. The use as a blood subst. was really neat, the military has wanted a stable blood replacement for years, but still not much luck after almost 100 years of trying.

VSEPR_VOID - 25-11-2017 at 03:58

I would very much like to acquire some of this fluid if anyone has a source.