Oxygen in Exam

Hi all,

I will be writing exams for the first time in September. I would like to take an Oxygen cylinder with me, so that I can breathe my own air during the exam. The rules don't say anything about taking gas cylinders into the exam. Do you think I will be allowed?

Thanks!.

 

Don't mean to offend

but are you serious???

 

No.

Rule 9(b) states

(b) be disqualified from sitting any further assessment until a complaint of misconduct has been determined under the Disciplinary Scheme of the Faculty and Institute or, in the case of a Faculty student, he/she has been the subject of a decision by the Faculty Council whether he/she should be removed from the Faculty’s Roll.



Examples of misconduct are:

the giving or receiving of any unauthorised assistance of any kind during the assessment;
gaining access to the assessment questions before the assessment;
looking at or copying from another candidate’s paper;
bringing unauthorised material into the assessment room;
disturbing other candidates during the assessment.

Use of an oxygen tank may breach final point!!

 

How would my oxygen tank disturb other candidates? It doesn't make noise and it will be almost hidden on the floor. I normally breathe pure oxygen during studying and I'd like to be able to do so when writing the exam.

 

I always thought pure O2 was toxic

But then there was the myth at Uni that if someone popped their clogs during the exam, everyone would be get a first, so be my guest!

 

Pure O2 is not toxic. The one that is toxic is O3 (ozone). It is almost as toxic as C17H21NO4 (cocaine), except that it is not a stimulant.

 

Maybe, but it is a prescription only drug in the UK and only licensed for home use, for respiratory disorders. You can’t just drag an oxygen cylinder to an exam hall. But in any case, I’ve concluded your post is a wind up.

 

if you believe that, perhaps you could do us a favour and try breathing pure O2 for a good 10 minutes.

Please report back the effect it had on you... (if you are still alive)

 

Gareth... I have breathed pure O2 before and I never died. O2 is life... it is what your brain cells need in-order to study those large stacks of notes. How can O2 be harmful?

 

http://members.tripod.com/tjaartdb0/html/oxygen_toxicity.html

 

I have been breathing these and nothing has ever happened to me:
http://www.paramountzone.com/pureoxygen.htm

 

Breathing pure O2

Up until a change in career 2 years ago, I was a qualified nurse.

Like most drugs and gases, O2 can be helpful or harmful depending on the purpose and dosage.

In hospitals, many people are given pure O2 because they have some defecit in their ability to breathe for various reasons. If someone is in distress, they are started 100% pure O2. However, the hospital will try to wean this down as quickly as possible.

The reason why is to reduce a number of dangers.

1. Increase in free radical formation which can be damaging at the cellular level. At high O2 levels, the concentration of free radicals can overwhelm the cells' innate anti-oxidant defense leading to irreparable damage and cell death.

2. Absorptive Atelectasis. This occurs when high levels of O2 "washout" the Nitrogen in the alveoli, leading to collapse of these sacs and decreased perfusion space leading to
something called a shunt. Shunting is basically a mismatch between the sacs that should be filled with oxygen and the flow of blood around them. With collapse of airspace, improper diffusion of oxygen to the blood occurs, lung can become damaged, again irreparably.

3. Seizures. Not a common thing seen in the hospital, but it does occur. More common in divers who don’t reduce the O2 concentration appropriately. At increased depth Nitrogen actually dissolves in the blood. And when you return to the surface too quickly the dissolved Nitrogen turns to gas again in the blood stream which can lead to the bends, seizures, death.

4. Cardiac: Can lead to constriction of coronary arteries and lead to damage similar to a heart attack.


I suspect any of the above would be classed as disturbing other candidates, so if you want to risk death unnecessarily, do it in your own time and not in the exam room.

 

Only a (wannabe) actuary would find risk in breathing! And, to think, accountants laugh at us for being boring!

Guess the question is: does the added expected return outwight the increase in risk?

 

Just to add another scientific point to Anna's excellent post.

O2 in its usual form is a triplet species - this means it has two parallel spinning electrons in the highest occupied molecular orbitals (pi antibonding orbitals). This makes it a diradical and very reactive. It's toxicity would come as no surprise to anyone who has the vaguest notion of chemistry

 

... but it's a wind-up ...

 

No this is not a wind-up. I am serious about this and I will take a cylinder with me and start to breathe it during the last 90 minutes of the exam.

Cardano, your post doesn't make sense. O2 is covalently bonded, as shown in the picture. I cannot see anything "unusual" about its form, which is pretty stable under normal conditions.

Cymro card, the added expected return does outwight the increase in risk because if you don't breathe the oxygen then you risk not remembering stuff and hence failing.

Anna_animal, will any of those disturbances you have pointed out occur during the 90 minute breathing duration? If yes then I might have to contaminate my O2 with some other gas, like laughing gas, so that I will be happy as well as re-assured during the exam!

 

Michael Jackson's studying to become an FIA ?
Personally I see this as an entire healthy development...so long as John Travolta doesnt get involved.

 

Learn some chemistry

Kazikizi,

Congratulations on passing GCSE Chemistry. Had you pursued the subject to A-Level, you would realise that Cardano's post is completely accurate.

Don't take the cylinder into the exam - no one would appreciate it. Do you use it in the office as well?

 

No offence but if you're not using the oxygen cylinder on the grounds of having some medical condition then I think it's pathetic.

When you need to run faster in the 100m race, you bring an oxygen cylinder.
When you need to think of the funniest joke to impress the cutest girl in school you plug in your oxygen cylinder.
When your boss needs you to perform you suck on the oxygen cylinder...

Regardless of its usefulness, where really is it bringing you?

Oh I just realized, if you had spent the time you used to discuss this to study, you would be better prepared than bringing in an oxygen cylinder. Don't you think so?

I sincerely hope that this can trigger some deepthoughts so that you can choose if that's really the kind of person you want to be. If this is of no help to you at all, I apologize. And I hope you find what you want with your cylinder.

 

Seems like the girls at your school had pretty underdeveloped sense of humors. Its no surprise you emerged from such a school if you think that a cylinder is funny.

Correct. I also just realized that people like you have never heard of study breaks.

I will take my cylinder with me, and I hope you get very cheesed off over that!

 

Calm down folks!

where are you taking the exam?

isn't there really a medical reason for this?


still think it's a wind-up.

study break over.