Evacuating the CO2? That wouldn’t have anything to do with it.
For one thing, the executions I’ve read about used masks around the nose and mouth, which I would think would be very prone to manipulation by the victim. In any case, there is no way for CO2 to build up.
That would take a chamber, which they aren’t using, as far as I know, but even if they were, it would take hours for CO2 to build up enough to have even the slightest effect. A chamber would work the best, allowing the room to fill with nitrogen, which the victim has no choice but to breathe, eventually. Within a few breaths, they will be unable to stay awake, and they will fall asleep forever, suffering NO ill effects along the way (other than death, of course).
Reports of “agony,” thrashing, etc. is all just prisoner theatre. Of course many of them are going to play it up for sympathy, this is their last moment on the stage. The actual fact is that nitrogen poisoning is about the most tranquil death there is. People die from it every year, and there has never been evidence of the victims suffering any death throes. Universally, they all appear to have just fallen into permanent sleep.
Smith began to shake and writhe violently, in thrashing spasms and seizure-like movements, at about 7:58 p.m. The force of his movements caused the gurney to visibly move at least once. Smith’s arms pulled against the straps holding him to the gurney. He lifted his head off the gurney and then fell back. (…) The shaking went on for at least two minutes.
Miller shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints, followed by about six minutes of gasping, according to the Associated Press.
…an electrocardiogram showed Grayson no longer had a heartbeat about 10 minutes after the gas began flowing. Like two others previously executed by nitrogen, Grayson shook at times before taking a periodic series of gasping breaths.
Risks include feelings of suffocation and choking to death on one’s own vomit, as well as brain damage, a stroke, or a persistent vegetative state instead of death
The descriptions of nitrogen poisoning are well documented in both the scientific and medical communities, and they are at completely at odds with those descriptions. I have never heard of any other death by nitrogen that fits anything close to that. Just the opposite.
That means either the authorities screwed up in applying the strategy, which is definitely possible, considering how incompetent they often are, or the prisoners were acting, or both, which is probably the likely answer.
If a person is sealed into a tight space filled with nitrogen, they won’t have any other symptoms, other than sleepiness. No thrashing, no seizures, etc. That is simple scientific/medical fact. If those descriptions are accurate, then they are indictive of another problem other than nitrogen. I suspect the mask that they are using isn’t flooding their systems with nitrogen as thoroughly as is required, causing the body to fight back.
Stick the person in a small sealed chamber, fill a small container with liquid nitrogen, which evaporates at a rate of 695.5 to 1, and it will fill a chamber like that VERY quickly as it evaporates, displacing ALL the oxygen, and putting the victim to sleep in only a few breaths.
Evacuating the CO2? That wouldn’t have anything to do with it.
For one thing, the executions I’ve read about used masks around the nose and mouth, which I would think would be very prone to manipulation by the victim. In any case, there is no way for CO2 to build up.
That would take a chamber, which they aren’t using, as far as I know, but even if they were, it would take hours for CO2 to build up enough to have even the slightest effect. A chamber would work the best, allowing the room to fill with nitrogen, which the victim has no choice but to breathe, eventually. Within a few breaths, they will be unable to stay awake, and they will fall asleep forever, suffering NO ill effects along the way (other than death, of course).
Reports of “agony,” thrashing, etc. is all just prisoner theatre. Of course many of them are going to play it up for sympathy, this is their last moment on the stage. The actual fact is that nitrogen poisoning is about the most tranquil death there is. People die from it every year, and there has never been evidence of the victims suffering any death throes. Universally, they all appear to have just fallen into permanent sleep.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/an-eyewitness-account-of-what-happened-at-the-nations-1st-nitrogen-gas-execution
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/26/alabama-nitrogen-gas-execution-alan-miller
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5201699/alabama-nitrogen-gas-execution
https://eji.org/issues/nitrogen-suffocation/
Surely you’re not trying to imply they’re only thrashing for funsies
The descriptions of nitrogen poisoning are well documented in both the scientific and medical communities, and they are at completely at odds with those descriptions. I have never heard of any other death by nitrogen that fits anything close to that. Just the opposite.
That means either the authorities screwed up in applying the strategy, which is definitely possible, considering how incompetent they often are, or the prisoners were acting, or both, which is probably the likely answer.
If a person is sealed into a tight space filled with nitrogen, they won’t have any other symptoms, other than sleepiness. No thrashing, no seizures, etc. That is simple scientific/medical fact. If those descriptions are accurate, then they are indictive of another problem other than nitrogen. I suspect the mask that they are using isn’t flooding their systems with nitrogen as thoroughly as is required, causing the body to fight back.
Stick the person in a small sealed chamber, fill a small container with liquid nitrogen, which evaporates at a rate of 695.5 to 1, and it will fill a chamber like that VERY quickly as it evaporates, displacing ALL the oxygen, and putting the victim to sleep in only a few breaths.