Solved cryptogram
Carbon dioxide is heavier than air, so it settles into cellars and pits and waits there.
Chemistry Facts, sourced to PubChem, National Library of Medicine.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 71 letters over 17 different ones, graded medium.
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What it means
It is about half again as dense as air, which matters because the gas has no smell and does not trigger the alarm that makes you gasp. That alarm is set off by carbon dioxide building up in the blood, not by a shortage of oxygen, so an atmosphere that has displaced the oxygen with something else is more dangerous rather than less. Brewery cellars, silage pits and volcanic hollows have all killed people this way.
The claim comes from PubChem, National Library of Medicine.
- SourcePubChem, National Library of Medicine
- CollectionChemistry Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length71 letters, 17 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- U.S. Department of Energymedium, 77 letters
- U.S. Department of Energyeasy, 76 letters
- NASAhard, 68 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 76 letters
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