Some victims' families are rather comforted to find out that Nitrogen Suffocation is odorless, tasteless and compleletly painless, fast and very efficient. Victims don't even know they keeled over. They are completely unconscious in about 2 full breaths (8-20 seconds maximum, dependent upon concentration of Nitrogen being breathed). Victims pass out on their feet before they even notice anything is wrong, as the brain sensories are affected first and effectively shut down. Heart finally stops with death in 3-4 minutes. This happens even faster if Nitrogen concentrations are higher.
Normal air is 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen. It takes at least 19.5% Oxygen to support human life. When pure Nitrogen is introduced to any enclosed enviroment it displaces the available oxygen atoms one for one. So
only 2% of the available atmosphere would have to be displaced to be deadly! (Note: This is why you folks up North with Sucker Wells should be careful of both Nitrogen AND Carbon Dioxide!) A higher percentage, of course, just speeds the process even more. A Nitrogen filled room, such as those needed in certain industrial uses, would cause certain (if painless) death...especially once the victim passed out on the floor where the displacement would be 100%.
Nitrogen has long been advocated as a capital punishment over anything else currently in use. It produces no environmental pollution whatsoever, unlike other toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, cyanogen, etc. And, unless you made a device to make some noise or add an artificial odor like they do with propane, a prisoner would never even know when it was started or even on-going. It's cheap, too.
When I worked EMS prior to going in the service, I never could figure out why more suicide victims didn't try it. Except for the fact that it is not that easy for the average person to figure out how to get a room full of pure nitrogen gas. But a self-contained mask could easily solve that. What's more, it makes for a great looking corpse if you're into old-fashioned Catholic Wakes and such. This is much easier on friends and family left behind as there is no tissue damage, no blood, no staring eyes and no vomit...particulary if THEY are the ones they might find the body. Victim's just look like they went to sleep. Which is pretty much what happened.
Nitrogen is a bad murder idea, though...too easily detected. Just in case someone here was thinking about it...
