Posted by Ueli (212.28.158.76) on April 06, 2000 at 15:07:20:
In Reply to: O2 add-on to Drummer text posted by Riccardo on April 06, 2000 at 07:49:13:
Oxygen (O2) being very close to an 'ideal gas' has a very low critical temperature of 154 °K (-119 °C, -182 °F). This means, that at room temperature there cannot exist something like liquid oxygen, neither for private nor for hospital use (although the density of the compressed gas is quite high, reaching at a pressure of 200 bar ~1/3 the density of water).
Oxygen at high pressure is an extremely potent oxidizing agent. The presence of water in the oxygen tank would cause heavy corrosion, and you would soon have rusty shreds of steel flying around your ears. (My supplier states: H2O less than 200 ppm).
BTW, the same holds for pressurized air as used by scuba divers, all humidity must be removed completely on filling the tank.
As the oxygen coming out of the tank is completely dry it takes quite some water to reach full saturation needed in the lung. Therefore, a humidifier is strongly recommended, as otherwise the drying up of the respiratory tract is considerable.
PFNAD's
Ueli