LD5050
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Breathing under liquid!? Fluorinert/FC40
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...
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The Volatile Chemist
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How long can they stay in there, if they die after they come out...?
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LD5050
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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]
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Rhodanide
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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! 
However, I do know there is valid use of Fluorinert in the medical and Veterinary field(s) for victims of burns to the lungs.
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Tsjerk
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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.
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Assured Fish
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There may be another potential use for such a liquid.
Producing one hell of a vacuum using an aspirator
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.
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j_sum1
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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.
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Dr.Bob
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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.
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VSEPR_VOID
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I would very much like to acquire some of this fluid if anyone has a source.
Within cells interlinked
Within cells interlinked
Within cells interlinked
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