1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey everybody, 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: it's me Christian Seger, and I am back with another 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: brain stuff question. Why can't we breathe underwater? I haven't 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: met everybody, but everyone that I have met has not 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: been able to breathe underwater, except for aquaman of course. 6 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: And it's a good question when you think about it, 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: because water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, right, well, 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: it goes in the chemicals. There's one thing we need 9 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: to remember though, about those chemicals. It's that once they 10 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: react in certain ways, they form compounds that are often 11 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: nothing like their original elements. Think of two solo artists 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: from different bands and then they get together and they 13 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: make an album that sounds nothing like the original music. 14 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: For example, if you react carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen together 15 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: one way, you get glue close, But if you react 16 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,279 Speaker 1: them together another way, you get vinegar. And if you 17 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: react them yet another way, you get fat. And if 18 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: you react them yet another way, you get ethanol and gluclose. Fat, 19 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: ethanol and vinegar are nothing like each other, but they're 20 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: all made from the same elements. In the case of 21 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: hydrogen and oxygen gas, if you react them together one 22 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: way you get liquid water, and the reason we can't 23 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: breathe liquid water is because the oxygen used to make 24 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: the water is bound to two hydrogen atoms, and we 25 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: can't breathe that resulting liquid. The oxygen that fish breathe 26 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: is not the oxygen that's in H two O. Instead, 27 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: the fish are breathing O two oxygen gas, and that's 28 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: dissolved in that water. Many different gases dissolve in liquids, 29 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: and we can see an example of this all the 30 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: time with carbonated beverages. In knees beverages, there's so much 31 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the water that it rushes 32 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: out in the form of bubbles. Fish breathe that dissolved 33 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: oxygen out of the water using their gills, and it 34 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: turns out that extracting the oxygen isn't that easy. Air 35 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: has something like twenty times more oxygen in it than 36 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: the same volume of water. Plus let's remember that water 37 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: is a lot heavier and thicker than air, so it 38 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: takes a lot more work to move it around. The 39 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: main reason that gills work for fish is the fact 40 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: that fish are cold blooded. This reduces their oxygen demands 41 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: tremendously warm blooded animals like whales breathe air like people 42 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 1: do because it would be hard to extract oxygen using gills. 43 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: Human beings can't breathe underwater because our lungs don't have 44 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: enough surface area to absorb enough oxygen from water, and 45 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: the lining of our lungs is adapted to handle air 46 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,959 Speaker 1: instead of water. However, there have been experiments with humans 47 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:05,519 Speaker 1: breathing other liquids like fluorocarbons. Fluorocarbons can dissolve enough oxygen 48 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: and our lungs can draw that oxygen out. It's just 49 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: that first breath where you suck in the floral carbons 50 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: and they enter your lungs. That is not very pleasant, 51 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: but it is possible. And look, please, nobody out there 52 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: try to breathe underwater, because unless you're an extraordinary person 53 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: or maybe a mutant, you're probably going to drown. Check 54 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: out the brain stuff channel on YouTube, and for more 55 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff 56 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: works dot com.