Can anyone please help me with a human physiology question?
Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of energy conversions in the body’s cells (as e.g. sugars are broken down or ‘catabalised’ into CO2 and water) and, dissolved in blood, it is taken away to the lungs where it can be released into the air that we exhale, just like bubbles from a carbonated drink. When too much carbon dioxide remains dissolved in the blood, it makes the blood more acidic and this reduction in pH is detected in the brain (look up the wikipedia site to find which bit of the brain) and a signal sent to increase breathing rate to help get rid of it. This increase in breathing rate has the added desirable effect of increasing the rate of oxygen intake into the blood. Hold your breath for a few seconds: the pain you begin feeling is due to a build up of CO2. Decreasing blood pH is how we know when we are starting to suffocate but it is by measuring an increase in dissolved CO2 rather than by measuring a decrease in the amount of oxygen dissolved in the blood. I believe this may be
