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Ben,

I think that story was told in Mount/Gilliam's "Mix Gas Diving" book.  I
believe your facts are accurate.

Art.

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Ben Greenhouse [SMTP:b.greenhouse@ut*.ca*]
	Sent:	Wednesday, April 22, 1998 6:05 PM
	To:	Khoo Soo Seng
	Cc:	techdiver
	Subject:	Re: H2 Vs.He

	Alright, this is going to sound like a joke, but is actually
serious and true.

	    One of the problems with breathing a hydrogen oxygen mixture
is that Hydrogen is of
	course (think Hindenburg) extremely combustible.  This means
that it will oxidize very
	easily, especially in the presence of high concentrations of O2.
I read a bit a while ago
	about the problems associated.  I think it was somewhere above
4% O2 was dangerous in
	temrs of starting an explosion.  The one tester I read about
tried to get around this by
	going down to a depth (I forget what depth, and am too lazy to
calculate it) where 4% O2
	was lifesustaining I think he used air as a travel mix, then
went on to a 96% Nitrogen, 4%
	Oxygen mix for a while to "flush" the high concentrations of
oxygen out of his system,
	then switched to the Hydrox mixture.  He did this all on some
platform that was lowered
	from a ship, as he was (obviously) afraid of narcosis, and also
I think the equipment was
	too heavy to reasonably dive with.  Anyways, on the way back up,
his handlers let a line
	on one side slip and the platform tilted over and he slid off
never to be seen again, so
	no one knows how the trial went.

	    I think there have been other tests with Hydrox, but I
haven't read about any of them,
	and I thought you guys might find this story amusing.

	Ben

	Khoo Soo Seng wrote:

	> It is safe to breathe Hydrogen/Oxygen mixture?
	>
	> Assuming that you are able to mix Hydrox instead of Heliox,
what will be
	> it's  decompression schedule compare with Heliox for the same
profile?
	>
	> You input is much appreciated.
	>
	> Khoo
	> --
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