Medical Gas Supply Systems.Final Test 2026\2027.
What are the different medical gases that we deal with? (6)
O2, Air, Carbon dioxide, Helium, Nitric Oxide, & Nitrous Oxide
What is the percentage of room air occupied by Oxygen and Nitrogen?
Nitrogen- 79%
Oxygen- 21%
Trace gases occupy less than 1%
What three categories are medical gases classified into?
Non-flammable, these gases do not burn
Non-flammable but supports combustion, aka oxidizing
Flammable, burns readily and possibly explosive
Upgrade quizlet
Put slide 7
Which is heavier O2 or air?
O2
What are the different characteristics of medical grade oxygen? (4)
-Oxygen is colorless, odorless, transparent and tasteless
-Exists freely in the form of O2 which is slightly heavier than air
-Constitutes almost 50% of the weight on the Earth's crust in the form of H2O
-O2 is nonflammable, but greatly increases rate of combustion
How is O2 produced (3)?
Physical separation
Mechanical
Fractional Distillation
When small quantities of O2 are needed what form of O2 production is
typically used?
,Medical Gas Supply Systems.Final Test 2026\2027.
Chemical separation
Ex: Electrolysis of water and decomposition of sodium chlorate
What process is used to make large quantities of O2?
Fractional distillation
What process is associated with fractional distillation?
The Joule-Thompson effect
How does Fractional Distillation work?
Air is compressed into a liquid and cooled
The liquid air is then slowly heated
Nitrogen (N2) boils off first
This process leaves behind 99.5% pure O2, the remaining 0.5% is mostly trace
amounts of N2
What percentage of O2 is necessary to be considered medical grade
oxygen?
Itleast 99% (FDA regulates this
What are the two methods used in physical separation (O2 production)?
Molecular sieves
Semipermeable plastic membranes
What are the characteristics of the molecular sieves? (3)
-use inorganic sodium aluminum silicate pellets (the longer the time spent in the
pellets the higher the oxygen concentration will be)
-These pellets absorb N2, "trace" gases, and water vapor
-Able to provide an O2 concentration of >90%
What is used along with a semipermeable plastic membrane?
A Vacuum pump
What is the process for semipermeable plastic membranes?
, Medical Gas Supply Systems.Final Test 2026\2027.
-The pump pulls air through the membrane which allows O2 and water vapor to
pass through faster than N2
-Allows for O2 concentrations of approximately 40%
What are the main O2 concentrators? (2)
Molecular sieves
Semipermeable plastic membranes
What are O2 concentrators good for?
allow low flow O2 use in the home setting
What are the characteristics of medical grade air? (5)
-Atmospheric Air is a colorless, odorless, naturally occurring gas
-Comprised of 20.95% O2, 78.1% N2, and approximately 1% "trace" gases
-Medical grade Air must be dry and free of oil or particulate contamination
-Medical grade Air is produced by compressing and filtering atmospheric air
-Nonflammable but supports combustion
What are the characteristics of medical grade CO2?
-CO2 is a colorless and odorless gas
-Weighs about 1.5 times heavier than air
-Does not support combustion or maintain animal life
-Byproduct of combustion of carbonaceous fuels
Coal, coke, natural gas, etc.
-It has a 99% purity
How is medical grade CO2 manufactured?
Heating limestone in contact with water
What are the different medical gases that we deal with? (6)
O2, Air, Carbon dioxide, Helium, Nitric Oxide, & Nitrous Oxide
What is the percentage of room air occupied by Oxygen and Nitrogen?
Nitrogen- 79%
Oxygen- 21%
Trace gases occupy less than 1%
What three categories are medical gases classified into?
Non-flammable, these gases do not burn
Non-flammable but supports combustion, aka oxidizing
Flammable, burns readily and possibly explosive
Upgrade quizlet
Put slide 7
Which is heavier O2 or air?
O2
What are the different characteristics of medical grade oxygen? (4)
-Oxygen is colorless, odorless, transparent and tasteless
-Exists freely in the form of O2 which is slightly heavier than air
-Constitutes almost 50% of the weight on the Earth's crust in the form of H2O
-O2 is nonflammable, but greatly increases rate of combustion
How is O2 produced (3)?
Physical separation
Mechanical
Fractional Distillation
When small quantities of O2 are needed what form of O2 production is
typically used?
,Medical Gas Supply Systems.Final Test 2026\2027.
Chemical separation
Ex: Electrolysis of water and decomposition of sodium chlorate
What process is used to make large quantities of O2?
Fractional distillation
What process is associated with fractional distillation?
The Joule-Thompson effect
How does Fractional Distillation work?
Air is compressed into a liquid and cooled
The liquid air is then slowly heated
Nitrogen (N2) boils off first
This process leaves behind 99.5% pure O2, the remaining 0.5% is mostly trace
amounts of N2
What percentage of O2 is necessary to be considered medical grade
oxygen?
Itleast 99% (FDA regulates this
What are the two methods used in physical separation (O2 production)?
Molecular sieves
Semipermeable plastic membranes
What are the characteristics of the molecular sieves? (3)
-use inorganic sodium aluminum silicate pellets (the longer the time spent in the
pellets the higher the oxygen concentration will be)
-These pellets absorb N2, "trace" gases, and water vapor
-Able to provide an O2 concentration of >90%
What is used along with a semipermeable plastic membrane?
A Vacuum pump
What is the process for semipermeable plastic membranes?
, Medical Gas Supply Systems.Final Test 2026\2027.
-The pump pulls air through the membrane which allows O2 and water vapor to
pass through faster than N2
-Allows for O2 concentrations of approximately 40%
What are the main O2 concentrators? (2)
Molecular sieves
Semipermeable plastic membranes
What are O2 concentrators good for?
allow low flow O2 use in the home setting
What are the characteristics of medical grade air? (5)
-Atmospheric Air is a colorless, odorless, naturally occurring gas
-Comprised of 20.95% O2, 78.1% N2, and approximately 1% "trace" gases
-Medical grade Air must be dry and free of oil or particulate contamination
-Medical grade Air is produced by compressing and filtering atmospheric air
-Nonflammable but supports combustion
What are the characteristics of medical grade CO2?
-CO2 is a colorless and odorless gas
-Weighs about 1.5 times heavier than air
-Does not support combustion or maintain animal life
-Byproduct of combustion of carbonaceous fuels
Coal, coke, natural gas, etc.
-It has a 99% purity
How is medical grade CO2 manufactured?
Heating limestone in contact with water
