Nitrogen gas to kill somebody?
That’s kind of cold.
Dropping the convicted murderer into liquid nitrogen would be cold... but effective.
[ Nitrogen gas to kill somebody?
That’s kind of cold. ]
Only if it is LIQUID Nitrogen....
70% of regular AIR is Nitrogen Gas or N2 gas.
They just replace the 30% that is O2 with more N2, so that the air the criminal breathes is 100% N2 and no oxygen.
Since the breath reflex is triggered by CO2 levels there is no strained breathing, just normal breathing until the O2 runs out and the inmate passes out and eventually passes away due to “Hypoxia” or lack of oxygen.
Fire supression systems in data centers that use “Halon” Gas are dangerous the same way, if the air is replaced with something non breathable you won’t notice until you start passing out.... Some peopel have died due to Halon Gas replacing the O2 and there was no panic they just drop in place.
Nitrogen Gas is used because it is both cheap and plentiful.
They could technically use Helium, or Halon, or Sulfur Hexaflouride, but that would be expensive.
I was personally involved in a situation where three pipe welders / pipe fitters died in a situation where nitrogen was being used to purge a 18 inch pipe. When the purge block was removed, a fitter crawled into the pipe to check the root pass. After about a min., when calling to him didn’t get a response, his helper, (which was his son), crawled in. Then the welder went in to try to get them out. Nitrogen replacing oxagen in your lungs is almost instant death.
Should work OK. It's switftly insidious.
From an account of a 1981 NASA accident:
Nearly 80 percent of the air we breathe is nitrogen, a virtually inert and usually harmless gas. Most of the rest is oxygen, which causes the release of carbon dioxide from our bloodstream into our lungs. This CO2 build-up triggers our sense of breathlessness, the need to inhale. But when breathing pure nitrogen, no CO2 is released into the lungs, and victims have no idea they are suffocating. They breathe normally until unconsciousness strikes.And it strikes within seconds.
Moments after Forrest Cole disappeared behind the curtain covering door 50-1, Bill Wolford followed. Crawling through the entrance, he turned to find Bjornstad lying on his back, unconscious. Yanking the curtain aside, Wolford called for help, then turned to assist his friend. As he reached for Bjornstad's hand, darkness swept over him and Wolford passed out, falling atop Bjornstad's body.
The three men had been inside Columbia for less than a minute.