A question i came upon while drinking water

[Sev]

Your lungs are not designed to absorb oxygen out of water. If enough gets in there it prevents air from getting in. This basically means you die from oxygen deprivation.

By all accounts it's a pretty painful way to go.

The coughing reflex is designed to clear fluids and other assorted odds n ends from your lungs. It's why you did all that sputtering wheezing "poo poo" after it went down the wrong way.

[ZooTech]

,, can it hurt you ?? like in any way?

Well, aside from drowning, you could get really bloated and start watching shows like Will and Grace and Desperate Housewives.

[CNF2002]

Pneumonia.

[Loonette]

Moving this to the "Soap Box" - please be more selective of where you place your threads. Thanks!

Cheers,
Loonette

[jonnythan]

A very small amount won't hurt you.

Your lungs are full of alveoli, which are tiny tiny air sacs. These tiny tiny air sacs have super-thin walls. These walls have air on one side and blood on the other.

When you inhale, oxygen is absorbed through these superthin walls into the bloodstream where there is little oxygen. Carbon dioxide is also absorbed into the air from the blood where it is fairly concentrated.

There are millions of these tiny sacs. Getting a few drops of water into them (or, more likely, lodged into the tiny airways that lead to them) will just let the water get absorbed directly into the bloodstream. No big deal.

It is a pretty good pathway for infection, though.

[Z (fka Sweet Tooth)]

,, can it hurt you ?? like in any way?

Well, aside from drowning, you could get really bloated and start watching shows like Will and Grace and Desperate Housewives.

Two of my favorite shows...

[Kal]

This is a picture of how tar your average smoker* has hanging around in their lungs...



Eventually this tar will be worked out, but it takes about a decade.

Gives you an idea of how much foriegn matter a pair of lungs can contain.




* As designated by our friendly non-smoking government

** I now want a cigarette

[CNF2002]

This is a picture of how tar your average smoker* has hanging around in their lungs...Gives you an idea of how much foriegn matter a pair of lungs can contain.

Does that count though since the average smoker can't run 2 minutes without falling over wheezing and coughing?

[camthepyro]

I've been smoking for years, and I can run indefinitely without falling over and wheezing.

[Big B]

I've been smoking for years, and I can run indefinitely without falling over and wheezing.

yeah, but you're only seventeen, right cam? put another ten years on the clock and you'll be singin' a different tune.