Is having alot of carbon dioxide good?

Question

okay we did this test in my science lesson a few weeks ago where we have to blow into thi tube (nothing trampy..) into lime water and when it goes cloudy our carbon dioxide has enterd it or something, aaannyyway the shortest tme my teacher expected was like 15 secs, when i did it it went cloudy in 2 - 3 seconds, and sir goes, "mr carbon dioxide man here.." is it a good thing or could it be bad for me?

im 14 btw, if that helps =)

Answer 1

The test you are refering to is a chemical reaction that takes place between the carbon dioxide you exhale and the lime water, changing it to calcium carbonate which is not water soluble, hence the cloudiness.  Now, the human body keeps the amount of carbon dioxide at a very narrow range, so I doubt that you have significantly more carbon dioxide than the next guy.  

Naturally, there are certain circumstances where you produce more carbon dioxide (after exercise for example) and you quickly expel it.  What probably happened is that you had an old batch of lime water and so it was near saturation to begin with.  That's why it took less time than someone else's batch.  

Having more carbon dioxide is not a good thing, and neither is having too little. The amount of carbon dioxide in your blood determines the pH of your blood.  The pH normally is between 7.35-7.45.  If you have too much CO2, the pH is lower, if you have too little, the pH is higher.

Answer 2

i did that as well in science..

ahahaha, maybe you just breathe harder than other people.

Answer 3

it depends on how much u breath in due to the fact that u are supposed to exhale the carbon dioxde!

Answer 4

Not being any great scientist myself, I would look at your results and say, "Wow, this man took in a lot of oxygen and processed it superbly and exhaled the appropriate amount of carbon-dioxide!!"  I would look at your  results as wonderful with respect to processing air through your system, and the green life outside will very much appreciate your feeding it it's necessary nutruient, carbon-dioxide.  Now, as I said, I'm no scientist of any sort, so, in reality, you could be sick as a dog, but I wouldn't think so.   Enjoy life.  You're contributing greatly to it!!   God Bless you.

Answer 5

If you have a larger lung capacity because you do aerobic exercise like running, that's very good and healthy.  But the proportion of CO2 in your breath depends mainly on how long you hold your breath before you exhale.  Hold it as long as you can, and your body will have time to transfer more CO2 from your bloodstream and absorb more O2 from the air in your lungs.