Breathing Liquid Sometimes something happens which goes entirely against what we feel we should do. For some it may be parachuting out of a plane or climbing a mountain. I am talking about something which can terrify someone so badly it paralyzes them. One of those things would have to be putting a helmet over your head filled with liquid and being told you have to breathe it in to live. Breathing Liquid - Is it possible for a human to sustain himself or herself while breathing liquid and if so, why would anyone want to? The surprising answer is yes, not only is it possible, but it has been done for quite a few years. In 1920 Winternitz and Smith demonstrated human lungs can tolerate large amounts of a saline solution without damaging them. In 1950 it was suggested by Stein and Sonnenscheim you could keep an animal alive that was submerged in an oxygenated saline solution. In 1962 Krysla was submerging mice in the above solution and they were showing short term survival. The breakthrough came in 1966 when Clark and Gollan starting using per fluorocarbons (PFC). They submerged mice and the mice breathed in the liquid. After keeping them in the liquid for some time they returned them to normal breathing and the mice were fine. What is a PFC liquid - PFC liquids have 1/4 the surface tension, 16 times the oxygen solubility and 3 times the carbon dioxide solubility of water. Since Oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolve so easily in this liquid it is excellent for carrying oxygen. The liquid spreads the oxygen much more quickly than gas. Two areas where liquid breathing would be the most helpful are underwater operations and medical applications. Let’s talk about medical applications first. 80,000 premature newborns are delivered every year that have severe respiratory disorders. Many of these children have under-developed lungs. Liquid breathing is able to relieve their stress by delivering more oxygen and delivering it better. The same holds true for 300,000 adult patients who experience breathing distress every year. Over 10,000,000 people in the U.S. have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and it is now thought liquid breathing may be beneficial to these individuals. It is beginning to look as if this therapy will work on almost any type of breathing disorder. The advantages of breathing a liquid while deep diving are undeniable. When a diver goes below 120 feet, Helium substituted for nitrogen in "mixed gas diving," can cause an effect called High Pressure Nervous Syndrome. This is also known as Gas narcosis. It is caused by nitrogen in normal air dissolving into nervous tissue. One of the uses for liquid breathing could save many lives. It has been proposed liquid breathing gear be installed in submarines so if the sub sinks, the crew would be able to get out and rise to the surface immediately if equipped with liquid breathing. They would have to be trained of course in its use so they not only would know how to use it, but also how to overcome the fear of breathing liquid. The Russians have claimed liquid breathing could also be useful in the treatment of severely wounded soldiers. The progress on using liquid breathing and how best to use it has been slow, very slow. One can only hope advances in technology will give us advances in using liquid breathing. Perhaps a way will be found to take the natural fear out of the process. There may be some uses for liquid breathing in space, but this doesn't seem to have been researched much.
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