WEBVTT - Why Can't We Breathe Underwater?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>it's me Christian Seger, and I am back with another

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<v Speaker 1>brain stuff question. Why can't we breathe underwater? I haven't

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<v Speaker 1>met everybody, but everyone that I have met has not

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<v Speaker 1>been able to breathe underwater, except for aquaman of course.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's a good question when you think about it,

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<v Speaker 1>because water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, right, well,

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<v Speaker 1>it goes in the chemicals. There's one thing we need

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<v Speaker 1>to remember though, about those chemicals. It's that once they

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<v Speaker 1>react in certain ways, they form compounds that are often

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<v Speaker 1>nothing like their original elements. Think of two solo artists

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<v Speaker 1>from different bands and then they get together and they

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<v Speaker 1>make an album that sounds nothing like the original music.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, if you react carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen together

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<v Speaker 1>one way, you get glue close, But if you react

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<v Speaker 1>them together another way, you get vinegar. And if you

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<v Speaker 1>react them yet another way, you get fat. And if

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<v Speaker 1>you react them yet another way, you get ethanol and gluclose. Fat,

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<v Speaker 1>ethanol and vinegar are nothing like each other, but they're

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<v Speaker 1>all made from the same elements. In the case of

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<v Speaker 1>hydrogen and oxygen gas, if you react them together one

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<v Speaker 1>way you get liquid water, and the reason we can't

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<v Speaker 1>breathe liquid water is because the oxygen used to make

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<v Speaker 1>the water is bound to two hydrogen atoms, and we

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<v Speaker 1>can't breathe that resulting liquid. The oxygen that fish breathe

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<v Speaker 1>is not the oxygen that's in H two O. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>the fish are breathing O two oxygen gas, and that's

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<v Speaker 1>dissolved in that water. Many different gases dissolve in liquids,

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<v Speaker 1>and we can see an example of this all the

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<v Speaker 1>time with carbonated beverages. In knees beverages, there's so much

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<v Speaker 1>carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the water that it rushes

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<v Speaker 1>out in the form of bubbles. Fish breathe that dissolved

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<v Speaker 1>oxygen out of the water using their gills, and it

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<v Speaker 1>turns out that extracting the oxygen isn't that easy. Air

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<v Speaker 1>has something like twenty times more oxygen in it than

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<v Speaker 1>the same volume of water. Plus let's remember that water

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<v Speaker 1>is a lot heavier and thicker than air, so it

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<v Speaker 1>takes a lot more work to move it around. The

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<v Speaker 1>main reason that gills work for fish is the fact

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<v Speaker 1>that fish are cold blooded. This reduces their oxygen demands

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<v Speaker 1>tremendously warm blooded animals like whales breathe air like people

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<v Speaker 1>do because it would be hard to extract oxygen using gills.

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<v Speaker 1>Human beings can't breathe underwater because our lungs don't have

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<v Speaker 1>enough surface area to absorb enough oxygen from water, and

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<v Speaker 1>the lining of our lungs is adapted to handle air

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<v Speaker 1>instead of water. However, there have been experiments with humans

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<v Speaker 1>breathing other liquids like fluorocarbons. Fluorocarbons can dissolve enough oxygen

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<v Speaker 1>and our lungs can draw that oxygen out. It's just

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<v Speaker 1>that first breath where you suck in the floral carbons

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<v Speaker 1>and they enter your lungs. That is not very pleasant,

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<v Speaker 1>but it is possible. And look, please, nobody out there

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<v Speaker 1>try to breathe underwater, because unless you're an extraordinary person

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe a mutant, you're probably going to drown. Check

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<v Speaker 1>out the brain stuff channel on YouTube, and for more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff

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