Influence of temperature on gas in liquid solubility

• Inverse relationship between gas solubility in blood (or any liquid) and temperature; dissolved gases tend to come out of solution as a fluid is warmed

• The solubility of carbon dioxide & oxygen increases with decreasing temperatures. Since carbon dioxide is 23 times more soluble than oxygen, the pCO2 will be more significantly affected by the decreasing temperature than the pO2. Therefore, although the CO2 content may remain the same, the pCO2 will be significantly less at lower temperatures

• The relationship between PCO2 & temperature for blood (CO2 content is constant) is curvilinear and related to the increased solubility of CO2 at lower temperatures