I was watching a documentary about a group of doctors doing high altitude research while climbing Mt Everest. It was claimed in that documentary that breathing pure oxygen only increases actual oxygen intake by 5% at those sort of altitudes.
Presumably they were talking about conventional oxygen masks and not the tight fitting, high pressure masks that pilots use.
In any case I was fairly shocked that breathing pure oxygen made such a small difference at altitude, but the difference it does make can be critical at the limits of human endurance.
Presumably they were talking about conventional oxygen masks and not the tight fitting, high pressure masks that pilots use.
In any case I was fairly shocked that breathing pure oxygen made such a small difference at altitude, but the difference it does make can be critical at the limits of human endurance.