Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
On 27 Jun 1994, HeimannJ wrote: > Last week I did a practice trimix dive on the "Bone Wreck," which is east of > Boston in about 180 fsw. My mix was 19.5% O2 and about 21% He (I topped off > a half tank of 18/40 with air). The dive went fine, but I was surprised at > how narcotic the mix felt on the bottom. Although the END should have been > around 125 fsw, it felt more like air at about 150. Assuming my subjective > impression had some physical basis, was this due to the sometimes-claimed > narcotic effect of O2, or are there other effects coming into play? Very interesting. I had a somewhat analagous experience breathing nitrox-29 at about 200 feet (long time ago, I KNOW the PPO2 is way high....), and it felt like air at 270'. There's a paper which suggests the narcotic potency of oxygen, but there have been no conclusive studies with real numbers (that I know of). When I get some time, I'm going to run a little informal experiment (myself as study subject) comparing the relative narcotic effects of air and nartox-10 (10% oxygen, 90% nitrogen). I suspect that I will be LESS impaired by the nartox than by the air at a given depth, but we'll see..... Aloha, Rich
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]