What is the odorless, tasteless poisonous combustion byproduct that is lighter than air?

What is the odorless, tasteless poisonous combustion byproduct that is lighter than air?

• A. Sodium Oxide
• B. CO or Carbon Monoxide
• C. Hydrogen Sulfide
• D. Methane

Answer: (B)

Carbon monoxide is the odorless, tasteless gas produced when fuels don’t burn completely. It’s especially dangerous because you can’t smell or taste it, yet it binds to hemoglobin in the blood about 200 times more readily than oxygen, which prevents your blood from delivering oxygen to tissues. That’s why enclosed spaces with incomplete combustion can be deadly, even without any obvious signs. Sodium oxide would not typically be encountered as a gaseous byproduct in everyday combustion; it’s more a solid oxide compound. Hydrogen sulfide does have a strong rotten-egg odor at low concentrations, and it’s heavier than air, so it behaves quite differently. Methane is a hydrocarbon fuel itself and, while it’s lighter than air, it’s not the toxic combustion byproduct described here.

Carbon monoxide is the odorless, tasteless gas produced when fuels don’t burn completely. It’s especially dangerous because you can’t smell or taste it, yet it binds to hemoglobin in the blood about 200 times more readily than oxygen, which prevents your blood from delivering oxygen to tissues. That’s why enclosed spaces with incomplete combustion can be deadly, even without any obvious signs.

Sodium oxide would not typically be encountered as a gaseous byproduct in everyday combustion; it’s more a solid oxide compound. Hydrogen sulfide does have a strong rotten-egg odor at low concentrations, and it’s heavier than air, so it behaves quite differently. Methane is a hydrocarbon fuel itself and, while it’s lighter than air, it’s not the toxic combustion byproduct described here.