Witnesses watched through a window at an Alabama prison as Kenneth Eugene Smith became the nation's first person to be put to death using nitrogen gas.

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — As witnesses including five news reporters watched through a window, Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted and sentenced to die in the 1988 murder-for hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett, convulsed on a gurney as Alabama carried out the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas.

  • bane_killgrind@kbin.social
    0·
    9 months ago

    They just filled the air he was breathing with nitrogen instead of cycling it through his airspace… They needed a larger volume of gas to keep the amount of CO2 low enough

    • valaramech@kbin.social
      0·
      9 months ago

      I’ve seen this claim made multiple times but the articles in question make no mention of it - including this one, unless I’m blind. Do you have a source for this claim?

      • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        9 months ago

        It’s not a claim that needs sourced. You put out a certain amount of CO2. Breathing that into a larger volume results in lower CO2 density.

        If you have a cup of water that full, pouring that into a swimming pool does not result in a full swimming pool.

        • Tja@programming.dev
          0·
          9 months ago

          Every claim needs to be sourced/proved, except axioms. Mathematicians had to prove that 1+1=2, and it was not easy.

          • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
            0·
            9 months ago

            Yeah, but you don’t have to prove that, because it’s already been done and is commonly accepted as truth. Similarly to how gas laws have already been proven, and as such don’t really need to be sourced unless you’re getting into something more specific than the basics of hows gasses work.