Is Air Sterilized by Pressure?
- I have a heck of a cold and while filling tanks last night I wondered if any of my germs might get into the tanks I filled. Then I got to thinking: These tanks are pressurized far more than the deepest scuba dives... Deeper than the safety zone of oxygen toxicity. Deeper than the realm of terminal nitrogen narcosis, etc. And even if germs could survive all of that, they would be subject to explosive decompression when we breathed them out of the high pressure tank. That's my theory on "germs".
- But what about viruses? My understanding is that viruses are more like molecules than germs. So, are viruses in danger from oxygen or nitrogen toxicity? Do they suffer from explosive decompression? Does high pressure air kill viruses?