Spectacular video shows how the "Cave of Death" kills everything that gets inside
Costa Rica has a notorious "Cave of Death." There is no oxygen in this underground kingdom, so everything that gets inside dies.
The shocking video shows a guide waving a large flaming torch at the entrance to the Central American cave. In less than seven seconds, a powerful concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) pouring out of the cave suddenly extinguishes the fire, writes DailyMail.
A torch with fire goes out near a cave.
Source: Screenshot from YouTube video
Illustrating the unusual atmosphere in the "Cueva de la Muerte" ("Cave of Death"), the video shows how the weight of the heavier CO2 flattens the torch barrel, leaving a streak of eerie gray smoke.
The shape of the smoke coming out of the cave shows how this dense CO2 gas is pressing downward, squeezing oxygen out of the cave entrance.
The smoke stretches eerily toward the cave.
Source: Screenshot from a YouTube video
"The small animals enter the cave and suffocate, usually after a few minutes," explained Belgian researcher Guy van Rentergham.
The cave is constantly supplied with carbon dioxide from the neighboring Poas volcano. According to van Rentergham, who is also a chemical engineer, 30 kilograms of CO2 flows out of the Cave of Death every hour.
"In a year, that's 263 tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of a car that has driven 2.2 million kilometers, or 56 times around the world," the researcher said.
Interestingly, the only indication that this invisible stream of CO2 poses any danger to living things at all is a warning sign with ominous skulls and crossed bones that exclaims: "Danger!"
There are warning signs at the entrance to the cave.
Source: Screenshot from a YouTube video
Fortunately, a person cannot enter the cave because it is small. However, snakes, birds, rodents, and other creatures looking for food die there.
Scientists warn that the level of CO2 coming out of the cave is so high that a person standing at the entrance could faint.
"This is a very small cave. But it is unusual in that a significant amount of carbon dioxide is released from a distant opening in the back of the cave," van Rentergham said.
According to the researchers, there are other caves with high CO2 content in the world, including Movile Cave in Romania and Carburangeli Cave in Italy.
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