Explain Like I'm 5 (ELI5)

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How do oxygen free hazards develop? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 5 months ago by scuppie@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/eli5@lemmy.world

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I've had a couple of articles come up for me like Darwin award winners walking into helium balloons while they're still being filled at ground level, or people walking into buildings (is it far underground?) and just asphyxiating before they realise.

How do these conditions come about? What about cave diving? Where do you get areas open to the environment where oxygen doesn't reach? I get with helium balloons the gas is being forcefully displaced. How else do you encounter oxygen absent scenarios?

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[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Most gasses won’t make you choke the way something like dust or smoke will. In caves, gasses can pool at the bottom or top with now way to escape because they’re heavier/lighter than breathable air.

[–] scuppie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 5 months ago

Thank you, I didn't consider it pooling at the top as well.