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RE: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning - The Chemistry
How does a hyperbaric chamber cause the heme to break the bond with the carbon monoxide. If the electronegativity of the oxygen atom (carbon monoxide) is equal to the electronegativity of the oxygen atom (dioxygen), the carbon monoxide bond would not be broken to be replaced by the dioxygen.
The displacement of CO is less a mechanism and more a concentration-driven process. Hyperbaric dioxygen (in which an increased pressure means an increased number of molecules per unit volume) dissolves easily in the blood's plasma and competitively displaces CO molecules. This could be thought of as analogous to concentration, pressure and pH affecting the outcomes of a chemical reaction in a laboratory.
This is why the treatment does not immediately cure the patient; rather than a mechanism which occurs spontaneously within the plasma, the displacement is probability-based and occurs over time. For this reason HBOT is said to decrease the half-life of haemoglobin-bound CO in the blood and there is no definite time frame for complete CO removal.
Obviously the comprehensive answer to your question is more complicated, but I hope that helps.
Thank you for your response. It does make sense that the higher the concentration of dioxygen will result in more collisions. This would likely result in dislodging the bonded CO molecule and replacing it with a O2 molecule. I am aware that they increase the concentration of reactants to quicken the reaction time. Another technique is to introduce a catalyst but it this case, I don't think that would be an acceptable solution.