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In his nitrox FAQ posting, Alan mentioned a friend who insists that he uses less air when diving nitrox due to the higher O2 content. I don't see how this is physiologically possible, since the brain center that controls breathing is stimulated by blood CO2 level, not by O2 level. You need to breathe faster if you are not getting rid of all the CO2 your body is producing, but not if you aren't getting enough O2 (this is usually cited as the explanation for shallow water blackout in free divers). Now I can imagine that trimix or heliox, being less dense and thus easier to breathe than air at depth, could eliminate CO2 more efficiently than air and thus lower gas consumption. Nitrox, on the other hand, should be no more or less efficient at venting CO2 from your body than air, since the density of nitrox is close to that of air. I was tempted to entitle this "nitrox nit..." John jheimann@sc*.gt*.co*
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