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submitted 3 weeks ago by scuppie to c/eli5@lemmy.world

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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[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

If oxygen nor included has taught me anything it's CO2 sinks because it is a heavier gas then O2.
So places with low airflow will accumulate the CO2.

A surprising place that O2 absent environment appears is telecom pits in the street. We had several safety courses about it.

[-] scuppie 3 points 2 weeks ago

That game is why I thought of it! I forgot to include in the post, I thought the reason we feel pain when suffocating is our lungs not liking CO2, but some gases like helium you'll just drop dead before you know what's happening?

this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025
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