As defined by the International Association for Development of Apnea (AIDA International), static apnea is the act of holding one's breath underwater in a stationary position. The current world record for static apnea is held by Branko Petrovic, who beat the previous record by holding his breath underwater for 11 minutes and 54 seconds! To determine how this is possible, let us first compute the amount of oxygen consumed during each human breath. Tidal lung volume, the amount of air inhaled and exhaled with each breath, is approximately 500 cm3 for both lungs of an adult human. Oxygen comprises 21.0% of the air we inhale, and 16.0% of the air we exhale. (a) What is the mass in g) of oxygen absorbed by the body during one breath? 0.04 X What percentage of the oxygen in each breath is actually absorbed by the lungs?
What is the volume of the absorbed oxygen, and how can you compute its mass?
(b) Now determine how much oxygen is available in g) to the body if one replaces the entire contents of both lungs, with a combined volume of 6.00 L, with fresh air before attempting a static apnea record.
What is the total amount of oxygen available in both lungs? How does this volume compare to that in part (a) of the problem?