The Na'vi and our oxygen

[Raiden]

Originally Posted by Jachyra

I've read the survival guide, and I've never seen this answered anywhere else (I might have missed this, and if so, sorry) and maybe JC's novelization will enlightened us, but 'till then...

I was wondering if the Na'vi could actually breath our air (let's say inside hell's gate). We know they're impervious to Pandora's toxic air (for us), but what about if they have to breathe our "clean" air.

The only close call we see in the movie is when Neytiri scoops human Jake in her arms (while the module is being filled with Pandaora's "air").

How would their body react?

Just a thought...

You've got it wrong......

Pandora's air is not "poisonous".

It has higher concentrations of Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, and Xenon. The animals and plants that live there evolved under these conditions, so this is the mixture of gases that suits them best.

For animals living on Earth, Hydrogen Sulfide is highly toxic, and Carbon Dioxide is toxic in high enough concentrations, making it poisonous to us and any other animals that do not do well under such circumstances.

Since the Na'vi have reddish blood, we could make the assumption that they also use Hemoglobin to carry Oxygen on their red blood cells; Hemoglobin has an Iron ion in it's core, and the Oxygen molecules we breathe in bond to the Iron ion (this is also how rust forms) and the blood cells carry them to other cells, where the oxygen is removed and taken up by the cell.

So, if they use Oxygen for cellular respiration, and posses Hemoglobin (or another molecule that can bond with Oxygen and give it to cells) then as long as the air has Oxygen levels high enough to sustain them and nothing that is poisonous to them, they should be able to breathe clean Earth air just fine (although it might feel thin to them due to the lack of Xenon, a very heavy noble gas element).