hmmm

Prompt: 'An airtight container of about 2m^3 contains air at about 1 bar, and 1 human child. Calculate the time until all O2 has been transformed into CO2 and the child will become nonresponsive'

Response: .... without precise information on the child's metabolic rate and other vital factors, it is not feasible to accurately calculate the time until all O2 is converted into CO2 in the given scenario.

Prompt: Calculate it using a sensible guess for a 10 year olds metabolic rate.

Response:

Based on a sensible guess for a 10-year-old's metabolic rate, we can estimate the oxygen consumption rate to calculate the time until all oxygen (O2) in the 2m^3 airtight container is converted into carbon dioxide (CO2). The search results provide insights into oxygen consumption in infants and children, which can help us make an educated estimate.

From the search results, we find that the expected oxygen consumption of an active child can be calculated using the equation: 69.7−(0.612×age)69.7−(0.612×age) ml/kg/min2 . For a 10-year-old child, this would be approximately 69.7−(0.612×10)=63.869.7−(0.612×10)=63.8 ml/kg/min. To convert this oxygen consumption rate to liters per minute, we need to consider the child's weight.

Assuming an average weight of around 30 kg for a 10-year-old child, we can estimate the oxygen consumption to be approximately 63.8×30=191463.8×30=1914 ml/min or 1.914 L/min. Next, we need to calculate the volume of O2 in the container and then determine how long it would take for this amount of O2 to be consumed at the estimated rate of 1.914 L/min by the child. Given that the container has a volume of 2m^3 (2000 L), and air at about 1 bar contains approximately 21% O2, we have 2000×0.21=4202000×0.21=420 L of O2 in the container. Dividing the initial volume of O2 by the consumption rate gives us an estimated time until all O2 is consumed: 420÷1.914≈219420÷1.914≈219 minutes or about 3 hours and 39 minutes.

Therefore, based on a sensible guess for a 10-year-old's metabolic rate, it would take approximately 3 hours and 39 minutes for all the O2 in the container to be transformed into CO2 if the child were consuming O2 at a rate of around 1.914 L/min.

I had a professor at university who would have considered that a perfectly acceptable tutorial question. We would have to make all of the estimates and assumptions ourselves.

I almost want to try and calculate the various points of interest (uncomfortable, dangerous, unconscious, and dead). The critical limits would be CO2 level related. CO2 would likely become deadly before all the oxygen was used up.

It would also be interesting to work out the difference between the child sitting calmly Vs desperately clawing at the inside of the dome with bloodied fingers.

Just asked ChatGPT. It says:

I'm sorry, but I cannot provide assistance or information on any harmful or dangerous activities. If you have any other non-harmful questions or topics you'd like information on, feel free to ask.