3 ms·

> It makes a great solvent, so let's put in anesthesia? Literally, yes. The potency of an inhalation anesthetic is usually directly proportional to its lipid s

by kens 3y ago

> It makes a great solvent, so let's put in anesthesia? Literally, yes. The potency of an inhalation anesthetic is usually directly proportional to its lipid solubility. (Known as the Meyer-Overton correlation.) This is why solvents such as ether and chloroform were used as anesthetics and why N₂O is both an anesthetic and is dissolved in cream to form whipped cream. The mechanism of inhalation anesthetics is not completely understood but it's thought that they interact with lipids in cell membranes and disrupt stuff. The better they dissolve in lipids, the lower the concentration that is needed for anesthesia. There's a nice graph on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_general_anaesthetic_action#/media/File:The_Meyer-Overton_correlation.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_general_anaestheti...

mikestew 3y ago
Well, when you put it that way...yeah, with some thought it begins to make a little sense. Because my observational evidence says that solvents in general seem to soak into human skin pretty well, so the same would easily get absorbed by whatever it is that turns the lights out. Thanks for the explanation.
thaumasiotes 3y ago
> and why N₂O is both an anesthetic and is dissolved in cream to form whipped cream. Whipped cream is cream with colloidal air in it. Mostly regular atmospheric air, but any gas that is safe to eat and has no flavor would function equivalently. If the air were dissolved in the cream, it would just be cream, not whipped cream. Wikipedia says that the purpose of nitrous oxide in commercial whipped cream canisters is to be stored (dissolved) at very high pressure so that, when the pressure is released, it can whip the cream by undissolving from it. (And that the secondary purpose is that the nitrous oxide doubles as a preservative.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipped-cream_charger#Culinary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipped-cream_charger#Culinary

by kens 3y ago

mikestew 3y ago

Well, when you put it that way...yeah, with some thought it begins to make a little sense. Because my observational evidence says that solvents in general seem to soak into human skin pretty well, so the same would easily get absorbed by whatever it is that turns the lights out. Thanks for the explanation.

thaumasiotes 3y ago

> and why N₂O is both an anesthetic and is dissolved in cream to form whipped cream. Whipped cream is cream with colloidal air in it. Mostly regular atmospheric air, but any gas that is safe to eat and has no flavor would function equivalently. If the air were dissolved in the cream, it would just be cream, not whipped cream. Wikipedia says that the purpose of nitrous oxide in commercial whipped cream canisters is to be stored (dissolved) at very high pressure so that, when the pressure is released, it can whip the cream by undissolving from it. (And that the secondary purpose is that the nitrous oxide doubles as a preservative.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipped-cream_charger#Culinary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whipped-cream_charger#Culinary