Healthy humans are incapacitated, or even asphyxiated leading to death, when hal

Question

Healthy humans are incapacitated, or even asphyxiated leading to death, when half of their hemoglobin O2 binding sites are bound instead by carbon monoxide (CO). Relatively low levels of CO can cause this, at pCO of ~1 torr for ~1 h.

A.(1 point) Briefly explain why hemoglobin binding CO leads to asphyxiation even though only half of hemoglobin’s binding sites are filled CO and O2 is still present in the atmosphere at its typical partial pressure.

B.(1 point) Does hemoglobin have a higher or lower affinity for CO relative to O2? Briefly explain, using partial pressures to support your answer.

Explanation / Answer

A.haemoglobin has four O2 binding sites.it delivers O2 to different organs when it is fully loaded with O2.but when half of the haemoglobin sites are occupied by CO it bind O2 more strongly to the other two sites and it cannot deliver O2 to the organs and hence causes asphyxiation

B. haemoglobin has a 200 times higher affinity towards CO than O2

the partial pressure of O2 in inspired air is 160mm of Hg and alveolar air is 105mm of Hg

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