Why carbon monoxide is harmful?

Answer 1

When a carbon atom and an oxygen atom combine to form carbon monoxide, it is a relatively unstable molecule. The oxygen atom can still bond with something else, and when breathed enters the blood and attaches to red blood cells. Once it does that, it becomes stable, but unfortunately that stable state is unusable by the body - it has displaced a needed regular oxygen atom, and prevented the body from getting some of its oxygen. Losing a little oxygen from your blood is okay - the body has a lot of reserve capacity built in - but if you breathe in a lot of carbon monoxide, then too many red blood cells become attached to the carbon monoxide and not enough are free to carry the necessary oxygen. Depending on how much carbon monoxide is breathed in, the person will slowly or quickly suffocate from a lack of oxygen in the blood.

Or, put another way,The red colour in red blood cells comes from haemoglobin. This molecule combines with oxygen to form oxy-haemoglobin. As the blood circulates round the body, any cell needing an atom of oxygen takes it from a red blood cell and plain haemoglobin reappears.

When carbon monoxide gets into the lungs it attaches itself to a red cell, forming carboxy-haemoglobin. Carboxy-haemoglobin cannot carry oxygen. Cells cannot remove the carbon monoxide from the red cells, so the haemoglobin is permanently put out of action. If too much carbon monoxide is inhaled, enough individual body cells die from oxygen starvation to cause the death of the whole body.

Answer 2

In your body, something called a hemoglobin carries blood to your tissues.

At anyone one time, only four molecules can be carried by the hemoglobin with the blood. Carbon monoxide and oxygen will fight to get the spots. Carbon monoxide will win, since it's affinity is much higher.

Since your body is only getting carbon monoxide and not any of the oxygen it needs, the blood cells aren't able to carry the oxygen to where it needs to go, do your organs start to fail. If you breathe in too much carbon monoxide, your body won't get the oxygen it needs and will stop working, causing you to die.

Answer 3

Carbon monoxide is harmful because it binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells more readily than oxygen, reducing the blood's ability to carry oxygen and leading to oxygen deprivation in the body's tissues. This can cause symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and in severe cases, unconsciousness, and even death.