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>> In "The Mixed Gas Diving Book" by Gilliam, mount, et al... There is a table >> listing the narcotic properies of most gases. Does anyone have the data >> for oxygen??? > >Looking only at lipid solubility (which I believe is what the table you >mentioned is based on), O2 should have about twice the narcotic potency >of N2. However, real-world factors greatly obscure the actual role >played by O2 in causing narcosis. In some cases, (PO2 < ~1.4) it seems to >cause less narcosis than the equivalent N2. In other cases (PO2 > ~1.6) >it seems to be more potent. A good rule of thumb is to assume it is >about equipotent for nrcosis as N2. Just to clarify something here: 1. The effect of O2 is completely different from N2 and wouldn't be termed narcosis. High PO2 is actually neurotoxic, i.e. it can cause irreversible damage to your nervous system. 2. O2 actually chemically reacts with components of (nerve) cells while N2 (and other inert gases) seems to undergo mainly transient physical interactions. Comparing lipid solubilities therefore doesn't make much sense. Beat BTW, I'm not a techdiver (but a biochemist/neurobiologist) ----------------------------------------------------- Beat Ludin, FMI, PO Box 2543, 4002 Basel, Switzerland Tel. +41 61 697 6697 / FAX +41 61 697 3976 Internet:ludin@fm*.ch* / Compuserve:100102,1527
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