←back to thread

95 points mustaphah | 7 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
Show context
qyph ◴[] No.45663797[source]
I wonder if this could be used for doping in aerobic sports? Could this elevate overall oxygen intake in a healthy person?

My vague understanding is that oxygen intake is a big limiting factor in aerobic activities hence measurement of things like vo2max in sports science. ‘Blood doping’ has similar benefits though it’s also about having more blood period.

It seems unlikely that one could take a big enough suppository to help in a meaningful way in a marathon, but in a middle distance race lasting only a few minutes…

replies(4): >>45663860 #>>45663965 #>>45664031 #>>45664408 #
semicolon_storm ◴[] No.45663860[source]
It seems unlikely, athletes are consuming liters of oxygen per minute. Plus, the impact is at least partially offset by needing to carry the extra weight with you.

Different story for apnea sports like freediving where a little bit of extra oxygen goes a long way.

replies(1): >>45663940 #
1. o11c ◴[] No.45663940[source]
A liter of liquid is a lot more than a liter of gas ...
replies(1): >>45664138 #
2. Liftyee ◴[] No.45664138[source]
Isn't liquid oxygen cryogenic (boils at -183C)? The engineering of keeping that ...there... gets interesting fast, especially when dealing with all the cold (absorbed heat from expanding gas) and containing the pressure while also releasing oxygen slowly.
replies(3): >>45664181 #>>45664315 #>>45664763 #
3. o11c ◴[] No.45664181[source]
Um yeah don't use liquid oxygen.

But oxygen dissolved or otherwise absorbed in a material is fair game. Even without anything fancy, water can contain about 1% free oxygen, which is 8x what you could do with gaseous oxygen (which is in turn 5x what atmospheric mixture has).

And there are a lot of chemical reactions that can produce oxygen much better than 1%. The trick is going to be avoiding heat changes.

replies(2): >>45664504 #>>45664592 #
4. estimator7292 ◴[] No.45664315[source]
The oxygen gas is dissolved into a different liquid, some kind of perfluorate in this case. You can put more oxygen molecules in a given volume when dissolved in a liquid than if you just compress the gas.
5. jcgrillo ◴[] No.45664504{3}[source]
> Um yeah don't use liquid oxygen.

You could probably do it once..

6. hobs ◴[] No.45664592{3}[source]
There's a lot of water so as long as my anal cooling fins project into the cooling fluid it sounds like I'll be down there for hours.
7. whycome ◴[] No.45664763[source]
Watch the abyss. The mouse!