Been a sub nuc for 20+ years.While it is a tough way to die (trapped on a nuc sub, no rescue possible) we saw on the Kursk that the 23 sailors died from suffocation, and poison gas.
But, the ones that suffocated died because the RATIO of CO2 to O2 was too high. Too much Co2 and one falls asleep. To little O2 and one dies from lack of a oxygen. But the body, with its will to survive, will put itself to sleep in a bid of self protection, and then gradually shut down unneeded parts of the body to keep the brain alive, but ultimately, the combined high co2 / low o2 is just too much and the body shutdowns the brain.
If you are ever in a room protected from fire by CO2 fire extinguisher bank, you probably seen signs that say that evacuation is necessary when the alarm sound because the discharge of the CO2 will displace the oxygen, leading to injury / death.
But, on a slowly raising ration in a confined atmosphere, I think that the MDs would say that it is chicken / egg.
lee
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