CO2 is an interesting gas in regards to the body. CO2 is a constant waste product following production of ATP from glucose. CO2 floats around in the blood stream not as a gas but as bicarbonate. This bicarbonate increases the acidity of the blood. You brain likes to sit at a pH of 7.30-7.45, and when that drops it will force your lungs to breath out CO2 to mantaing that balance. Believe it or not, in a normal functioning human bieng, the goal of breathing is not to take in oxygen (just a lucky happenstance), but actually to get rid of CO2.
