Deadly carbon dioxide gas (for Bob E.)
Some years back I read about a massive eruption of carbon dioxide gas from a deep lake in the mountains near Mont Cameroon, a semi-active volcano in West Africa. Apparently, the gas had been seeping from cracks in the rock into the depths of the lake and dissolving in the water. For many years, the highly soluble CO2 remained in solution until a rock slide one night upset the equilibrium of the lake. The carbon dioxide began to bubble out of solution (like opening a pop bottle). The bubbles in the water reduced the hydrostatic pressure in the depths of the lake, causing even more effervescence. Rapid expansion of the gas reduced its temperature to near freezing. The cold gas poured out of the lake and down the slopes of the mountain into the valleys, asphyxiating hundreds of sleeping people, livestock and wildlife. By daybreak the gas had dissipated, leaving the area mysteriously littered with dead corpses. So much for CO2 being harmless.Rather than post this as a rebuttal to Bob E. and then vanish, I decided to go looking for facts, because I am NOT interested in spreading wild rumors and half-truths. A search for "carbon dioxide poisoning" at yahoo.com turned up over 8,000 hits. Don't take my word for it, try it for yourself and see. Here are a few:http://helios.physics.uoguelph.ca/summer/scor/articles/scor158.htmhttp://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Hazards/What/VolGas/volgas.htmlhttp://www.uiowa.edu/~hpo/nl/mar00-3.pdf(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)Does this mean you shouldn't use dry ice on your boat? For you to be poisoned, you would probably have to have an airtight boat, a LOT of dry ice on board and a wide-open vent from the ice-box into the bilge. The only opening in most dry-ice boxes is the lid, which would be shut anyway. Happy sailing.PeterS/V Raven