# WHy don't US states that execute use carbon monoxide?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 19, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233 "2014-01-19T23:36:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233/61 "2014-01-22T18:58:25Z")
Discussion of moderator actions goes in ATMB.
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233/62 "2014-01-23T00:20:33Z")
> [@Learjeff](#):
>
> My thoughts exactly. I can’t imagine being any part of this. Seems to me someone made a terrible mistake here.
>
> I’d like to hear what could be wrong about this. It just causes the person to pass out and never wake up. Does it really cause convulsions in some people? I’ve never seen that with N2O – admittedly that’s a bit different from nitrogen gas, but I’d think it would be more likely to have a variety of different responses, since it’s less inert.
Might be some ill-effects if coming on in a combined atmosphere and gradually, but [from some PDF on N2 hazards somewhere on the internet](https://semsportal.apachecorp.com/Public/Safety%20Alert%20Updates/nitrogen.pdf):
> [@The Dangers of Nitrogen (N2)](#):
>
> Inhalation of a Nitrogen enriched atmosphere (ie: loss of
> oxygen) may cause dizziness, drowsiness, nausea,
> vomiting, excess salivation, diminished mental alertness,
> loss of consciousness, and ultimately: death.
>
> [snip]
>
> Everyone should understand that one deep
> breath of 100% N2 will be fatal. 100% N2
> will displace CO2 and O2 completely. And, in
> the absence of a CO2 signal to the brain, the
> stimulus to breath no longer exists! You will
> stop breathing!
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233/63 "2014-01-23T02:28:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Everyone should understand that one deep breath of 100% N2 will be fatal. 100% N2 will displace CO2 and O2 completely.
After one breath, you still have circulating O2 in your blood. This is gradually converted to C02, then mixed into the lungs by transpiration. One breath of N2, or H2 or He or Ar or O2 is not normally fatal.
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> No, when guillotined you don’t quite turn off like a switch … But I don’t believe there is any way you could have any pain sensations. You’ve severed the main nerve ‘bus’ completely & essentially instantaneously at its root
[Phantom pain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_pain) [Tinnitus](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100623123338.htm) [Neuralgia](http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Neuralgia_explained)
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2014, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233/64 "2014-01-23T10:47:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Nitpick: no US court has ever found that a person was wrongly executed. Of course, that’s in large part because there is almost zero political will for reopening the cases of people who have already been executed.
A [recent episode of PBS’ Frontline](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-by-fire/) profiled a case of an executed man who I believe was almost certainly innocent…
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233/65 "2014-01-23T13:02:00Z")
> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> After one breath, you still have circulating O2 in your blood. This is gradually converted to C02, then mixed into the lungs by transpiration. One breath of N2, or H2 or He or Ar or O2 is not normally fatal.
Perhaps not immediately fatal, but it’ll quickly render you unconscious. Fill your lungs with inert gas, and O2 immediately starts coming _out_ of your blood and into your lungs; almost immediately, you start sending anoxic blood toward your brain. Exhale deeply and take a really deep breath of N2/He/[not-O2], and you’ll be unconscious within 10-15 seconds.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233/66 "2014-01-23T17:49:43Z")
Scene on used-car lot
**Salesman to customer:** “This car was owned by a little old lady who only used it to carbon monoxide three husbands.”
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-us-states-that-execute-use-carbon-monoxide/679233/67 "2014-01-24T01:59:49Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> Perhaps not immediately fatal, but it’ll quickly render you unconscious. Fill your lungs with inert gas, and O2 immediately starts coming _out_ of your blood and into your lungs; almost immediately, you start sending anoxic blood toward your brain. Exhale deeply and take a really deep breath of N2/He/[not-O2], and you’ll be unconscious within 10-15 seconds.
Since many people, including friends of mine, have had exactly that experience, and lived to describe it to us, the clause “will be fatal” is unquestionably poor English.
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