Nitrox

As presented previously, long term exposure to PO₂ exceeding 0.5 atm will eventually produce symptoms of pulmonary oxygen toxicity, also known as the Lorraine Smith effect. Divers making single dives do not have to be concerned about pulmonary oxygen toxicity, but exposures during multiple dives and multiple days of more that 0.5 atm of oxygen […]

Divers using nitrox are more susceptible to carbon dioxide toxicity or hypercapnia than those breathing air. The reasons for this are related to the affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen versus CO₂ and the reduction in respiration rate when breathing hyperoxic mixtures underwater. Hemoglobin preferentially binds to oxygen molecules and when oxygen is in abundance much

Oxygen toxicity can have a range of symptoms.  The immediate response is to ascend to the surface.  How to ascend should follow your rescue training.  If the ascent becomes a rapid uncontrolled ascent.  A decision to put yourself in jeopardy and follow the injured diver or perform a safe ascent needs to be determined.   It

Somewhere around 2.0 atm of oxygen most divers would experience symptoms of central nervous system or CNS oxygen toxicity. The term CNS refers to the combination of brain and spinal cord, so the effects of CNS toxicity are neurological. The signs and symptoms of CNS oxygen toxicity can come on with little warning and have

As expressed in Chapter 2, the partial pressure of a gas is equal to its component fraction or decimal equivalent multiplied by the total or absolute pressure. Decimal equivalent can be abbreviated as Fg where g represents any gas. The decimal equivalent of oxygen in any gas mixture is expressed as FO₂. At sea level

The advantages to breathing nitrox over air are several. First, there is less nitrogen to absorb on a given dive and therefore less decompression obligation if bottom times are not maximized. As a result, at depths generally visited by recreational and scientific divers, divers will enjoy longer no-decompression stop bottom times and still have a

There is a common belief amongst nitrox divers that there is a reduction in the effects of inert gas narcosis when diving nitrox. This belief is particularly prevalent in “technical” diving chat rooms and self-published websites on the Internet. It does not appear to have much support from the diving medical research community (Hesser et

Divers can do several things to reduce their decompression obligation. They can reduce the time of a dive, thereby reducing the amount of time for gas to dissolve into their tissues. They can also vary the partial pressure of nitrogen in the breathing gas by diving shallow, thereby extending the amount of time it takes