Table of Contents
What happens if you dive with pure oxygen?
Divers breathing pure oxygen need to carry much smaller amounts of gas and produce no bubbles, but there are problems, some of which can be fatal. When a diver starts breathing from an oxygen rebreather the fraction of inspired nitrogen is zero.
What can happen to a diver as a result of nitrogen narcosis?
Nitrogen narcosis is fairly common and temporary, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have lasting effects. Some divers who develop nitrogen narcosis become too disoriented to swim to shallower water. In other cases, a diver can slip into a coma while still deep underwater.
What problem could happen if deep sea divers used pure oxygen in their tanks?
Diving with pure oxygen deeper than 20 feet can cause a person to absorb more oxygen than his system can safely handle, leading to central nervous system (CNS) oxygen toxicity. CNS oxygen toxicity causes a diver to go into convulsions (among other things).
Why can’t divers use pure oxygen?
Oxygen Toxicity Having talked about cost and practicality, we come to the most critical reason why pure oxygen isn’t used for recreational scuba diving. Even if the cost wasn’t an issue, a problem called central nervous system (CNS) oxygen toxicity effectively prevents us from using pure oxygen to dive with.
Why do scuba divers breathe a nitrogen oxygen mixture?
Nitrox is simply a gas mixture that has a higher concentration of oxygen and a lower concentration of nitrogen. If a diver is breathing less nitrogen, the chance of developing the bends is greatly reduced. When using Nitrox, the surface intervals tend to be shorter because there is less nitrogen to burn off.
Why do divers breathe nitrogen?
Nitrogen (N2) is a diatomic gas and the main component of air, the cheapest and most common breathing gas used for diving. It causes nitrogen narcosis in the diver, so its use is limited to shallower dives. Nitrogen can cause decompression sickness.
What can happen as a result of a scuba diver holding his or her breath as he or she ascends?
Decompression sickness: Often called “the bends,” decompression sickness happens when a scuba diver ascends too quickly. Divers breathe compressed air that contains nitrogen. At higher pressure under water, the nitrogen gas goes into the body’s tissues. This can cause tissue and nerve damage.
Why do divers experience nitrogen narcosis?
Narcosis while diving (also known as nitrogen narcosis, inert gas narcosis, raptures of the deep, Martini effect) is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while diving at depth. It is caused by the anesthetic effect of certain gases at high pressure.
Do scuba divers breathe pure oxygen?
Contrary to popular belief, scuba divers don’t only breathe oxygen underwater. After all, we don’t breathe pure oxygen above water either. Divers go way deeper and explore much longer with mixtures such as nitrox, heliox, and hydrox as these are safer alternatives to simple compressed air.
Why do scuba divers use the helium oxygen mixture?
The main reason for adding helium to the breathing mix is to reduce the proportions of nitrogen and oxygen below those of air, to allow the gas mix to be breathed safely on deep dives. Helium has very little narcotic effect. A lower proportion of oxygen reduces the risk of oxygen toxicity on deep dives.
What gasses do divers breathe?
Deep sea divers normally breathe a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, called nitrox or EAN (Enriched Air Nitrox). While Earth’s atmosphere is 78\% nitrogen and 21\% oxygen, nitrox is typically 32-36\% oxygen.