Where does the oxygen in plane masks come from?

But have you ever considered where the oxygen that flows through those masks comes from? It might surprise you to learn that, for most passenger aircraft, the answer is a chemical reaction. A small metal cylinder-shaped container is located above each row of seats and the masks are attached to these.



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To save space and weight, most aircraft emergency oxygen systems don't have bottled oxygen for passenger masks. Instead, they have a cocktail of chemicals, usually sodium perchlorate and iron oxide, that produce oxygen when burned.

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If the cabin pressure drops when the aircraft is above 14,000 then oxygen masks are automatically deployed. The equipment has a yellow silicone facial mask and is fitted with elastic that is adjusted by pulling on the ties. It also has a re-breather bag that may or may not inflate depending on the altitude.

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Airlines “pressurize” the air in the cabin, but not to sea-level pressures, so there's still less oxygen getting to your body when you fly, which can make you feel drained or even short of breath. The potential dehydration factor and sitting for long periods of time doesn't help.

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A loss of oxygen to the body causes causes something called hypoxia, the effects of which are confusion, cough, nausea, rapid breathing, changes in skin color, and headaches. If oxygen deficiency continues over a long enough period of time, it can cause unconsciousness, permanent brain damage or even death.

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The mask as such does not need to be airtight - it just needs to make sure that there's enough oxygen flowing into your mask to displace all the useless nitrogen in the air. Indeed, the mask you will see on airplanes are generally flimsy, plastic masks. Under water, these masks are not sufficient at all.

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The flight crew must use supplemental oxygen for the entire duration of flight operations above a cabin pressure altitude of 14,000 feet MSL (14 CFR § 91.211).

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