Explain the effects carbon monoxide can have on the human body

Oxygen is vital for life functions and is bound to haemoglobin in your red blood cells. Carbon monoxide is also able to bind to haemoglobin, irreversibly so. If the carbon monoxide level in your environment becomes too high then there will be insufficient oxygen to respire, leading to asphyxiation (suffocation) and death. Carbon monoxide has no colour and no smell. This is why it is important to have a carbon monoxide detector in your home.

Your red blood cells contain a pigment called haemoglobin. Normally, this haemoglobin binds to oxygen molecules and carries them around your body.

When carbon monoxide is present in your body, the carbon monoxide binds to the haemoglobin instead of oxygen. This reduces how much oxygen travels around the body and can be harmful for cell activity.

CO is a toxic gas and reduces hemoglobin's ability to transport oxygen.

Carbon monoxide prevents the blood from effectively carrying oxygen to vital organs. It can cause death from asphyxiation or lack of oxygen to the brain.

Carbon monoxide has an affinity ( wants to ) bond with oxygen a diatomic molecule. Inside the body this removes the available oxygen used for respiration and cellular activity. You suffocate from the inside!

There is a component present in blood called as Haemoglobin.

Haemoglobin has more affinity for Carbon-monoxide and mixes with it ro form carboxyhaemoglobin, which is harmful to the human body as the volume of oxygen going to the vital organs are significantly reduced.

CO (carbon monoxide) is also known as the silent killer, it is often created in exhausts of cars due to incomplete combustion and slowly kills any passengers without them knowing. CO binds to hemoglobin in the blood where oxygen is supposed to. This slowly starves organs of oxygen. Eventually, without appropriate care, it will kill you.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the most common causes of poisoning related death worldwide.

If we think about the normal process of respiration and ventilation, as you inspire, you bring in oxygen molecules into your lungs. These oxygen molecules move across a diffusion gradient in the alveoli into the bloodstream. This is where they bind to haemoglobin to make oxyhemoglobin. This travels in the body, releasing the oxygen to where it needs to go.

In terms of carbon monoxide, CO has a much stronger affinity to bind with haemoglobin than oxygen has with a roughly 90% affinity. CO binding to haemoglobin makes carboxyhaemoglobin. Taking away the ability of oxygen to bind.

By displacing oxygen, CO decreases the oxygen carrying capacity and oxygen delivery to tissues. This can cause a range of symptoms from confusion, headache and blurred vision, to loss of consciousness and death

There is an iron complex called haemoglobin present in red blood cells in the human body. Haemoglobin has a higher affinity for carbon monoxide than it has for oxygen. Therefore, inhalation of carbon monoxide into the human body results in the carbon monoxide molecules bonding to the haemoglobin, in the red blood cells of the body, instead of oxygen molecules bonding to the haemoglobin. This results in the red blood cells not being able to transport oxygen to the cells of the human body, ultimately resulting in death.

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas to humans if breathed in. It has a high affinity (binds very easily) to a molecule called haemoglobin. Haemoglobin is found inside red blood cells and carries oxygen around the body. However, if concentrations of carbon monoxide are high enough, it begins to replace the oxygen bound to haemoglobin. Therefore, carbon monoxide is carried around the body as opposed to oxygen. This leads to organs and tissues being deprived of oxygen, causing tiredness, vomiting, heart irregularities and potentially death if untreated.

Carbon monoxide binds irreversibly to the iron at the centre of haemoglobin and therefore prevents oxygen from binding to haemoglobin in red blood cells. The normal respiratory function is deactivated resulting in eventual suffocation