What will carbon monoxide pass through?

[redpaws11]

I've heard that carbon monoxide can pass through walls and floors in a home. Can it go through plastic? What other substances will contain it or allow it to pass through?

[wildwood]

Surprised you have not had a proper answer.
I can only guess and say that it probably won't go through proper plastic. It can and does permeate through dry walls and wooden floors according to the amount of gas.

Another unqualified point. I heard that they stopped making stationwagons [estate car] where the tailgate window can be wound down cause if you drive with only the back window down the car acts like a vacuum and I have personal experience of smelling the exhaust.

[Thicko2006]

As far as I can remember from my days at school - a long while ago, so I may be wrong - as soon as carbon monoxide combines with oxygen it becomes carbon dioxide. So, assuming that oxygen is present, the answer to your question is no.

[Teddio]

At room temperature carbon monoxide is not oxidised by oxygen to form relatively harmless carbon monoxide. Very small concentrations of CO are dangerous and are best detected using relatively inexpensive electronic CO alarms. CO, like any gas, will diffuse through porous materials but is unlikely to diffuse through materials like glass or a thick layer of solid polymer such as butyl rubber.

[theprof]

I concur with Teddio that oxidation of CO to CO2 does not occur at room temperature.

For this oxidation to occur, normally catalysts have to be present. Cobalt oxide is a typical one, but even then specific temperatures and/or pressures are required. The exception might be the natural oxidation that occurs in the upper atmosphere although a meteorologist told me some time ago that this can take years to happen.

As Teddio says, CO penetration depends on the porosity of the material. Brick, concrete and similar materials are very porous. As far as glass is concerned, it depends on the thickness of the glass involved. It might never diffuse through a suitably sealed glass brick cube yet if one of my students told me they wanted to fill a cube of cover slip glass with CO to see what happened, I'd soon show them the door.

Polymers and metals in general are impervious to carbon monoxide and other gases even under pressure. I've had a specially constructed unused cylinder of carbon monoxide at an extremely high pressure in my lab for about eight years and the lab technicians periodically check the gas volume and pressure. The figures are about the same as when the cylinder was checked following delivery.