• Question: why can you not breath on top of a mountain

    Asked by jemmal to Alan on 17 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Alan Richardson

      Alan Richardson answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      You can breath on top of a mountain, in fact you need to breath more frequently. The air around you would have a lower pressure yet the same percentage of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Your body obviously needs oxygen to respire, but when there is essentially less oxygen in the air around you. Therefore you need to breath more air in to get the same amount of oxygen to your cells.

Comments