Nitrogen Narcosis or Overdose?

[Tink]

O2 generators pour nitrogen into the room. What are the dangers of this?

[e. mort]

Originally Posted by Tink

O2 generators pour nitrogen into the room. What are the dangers of this?

I would think since they are used as medical devices that they wouldn't be allowed if there was an issue. Also, The air in our amosphere consists of the following proportions of gases: 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, 0.03 percent carbon dioxide, and the remaining 0.07 percent is a mixture of hydrogen, water, ozone, neon, helium, krypton, xenon, and other trace components. So, you can see that we are already breathing mostly nitrogen each day. Also, I believe that nitrogen narcosis only occurs when the body is under enough pressure that that compressed nitrogen gets into the blood stream. Usually you have to be down at least 100 feet for that to occur.

[Tink]

Good to know. Thanks...

[Mr. Smiley]

Damn Eric... we could have had some fun with Miss Tink.

[Kevan]

I bet it makes plants happy.

[e. mort]

Originally Posted by Mr. Smiley

Damn Eric... we could have had some fun with Miss Tink.

you so bad!

[parisgal]

Very late addition to the thread - Eric was right that it is the pressure that creates Nitrogen Narcosis (the bends). When diving you breath the normal air composition he mentioned (in sport diving, technical can use different mixes). It is the increased in pressure makes your lungs absorb the available gasses differently. So unless you can pressurize the room, you're safe

[Otter's Flame]

Originally Posted by parisgal

....Eric was right that it is the pressure that creates Nitrogen Narcosis (the bends).

I didn't realize nitrogen narcosis was the same as the bends... or decompression sickness. I always thought that nitrogen narcoses was an intoxication brought on by inert gasses, mainly nitrogen when breathed under pressure.

I thought the bends or decompression sickness was the result of your body's tissue and fluids being saturated by inert gasses due to breathing them in a pressurized environment... and then the gas coming out of solution due to a pressure decrease that surpasses the body's ability to safely outgas through normal breathing.

[squid]

Originally Posted by Otter's Flame

I didn't realize nitrogen narcosis was the same as the bends... or decompression sickness. I always thought that nitrogen narcoses was an intoxication brought on by inert gasses, mainly nitrogen when breathed under pressure.

I thought the bends or decompression sickness was the result of your body's tissue and fluids being saturated by inert gasses due to breathing them in a pressurized environment... and then the gas coming out of solution due to a pressure decrease that surpasses the body's ability to safely outgas through normal breathing.

you are right, Otter - the bends is not nitrogen narcosis. Nitrogen Narc is also called "rapture of the deep"

[rosiescreations]

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz...n_narcosis.jsp


Nitrogen narcosis is a condition that occurs in divers breathing compressed air. When divers go below depths of approximately 100 ft, increase in the partial pressure of nitrogen produces an altered mental state similar to alcohol intoxication.

Description

Nitrogen narcosis, commonly referred to as "rapture of the deep, " typically becomes noticeable at 100 ft underwater and is incapacitating at 300 ft, causing stupor, blindness, unconsciousness, and even death. Nitrogen narcosis is also called "the martini effect" because divers experience an effect comparable to that from one martini on an empty stomach for every 50 ft of depth beyond the initial 100 ft.


The Bends
SCUBA stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. When using SCUBA equipment, a diver breathes from a tank that holds highly compressed air.

SCUBA diving is different from holding your breath and diving, and to understand the difference you need to understand the incredible pressures that a diver's body experiences. When we are living on dry land at sea level, the air around us has a pressure of 14.7 PSI (pounds per square inch), or 1 atmosphere. That is a "normal pressure" for our bodies. Because water is so heavy compared to air, it does not take much water to exert a lot of pressure. For example, a 1-inch by 1-inch column of water 33 feet high exerts another 14.7 PSI.

If you hold your breath and dive down 33 feet (10 meters), therefore, your lungs actually contract in size by a factor of two. They have to -- there is twice as much pressure around the air in your lungs, so they contract. When you rise back up the air expands again, so your lungs return to normal size.

When you breathe from a SCUBA tank, the air coming out of the tank actually has the same pressure as the pressure that the water is exerting. It has to, or it won't come out of the tank. Therefore, when SCUBA diving, the air in your lungs at a 33-foot depth has twice the pressure of air on land. At 66 feet, it has three times the pressure. At 99 feet, it has four times the pressure, and so on.

When high-pressure gases in the air come in contact with water, they dissolve into the water. This is how carbonated beverages are made. To make carbonated water, water is exposed to high-pressure carbon dioxide gas, and the gas dissolves into the water. We all know what happens when you release the pressure in a bottle of soda -- bubbles suddenly start rising. The gas dissolved in the water at high-pressure comes out of the liquid when the pressure is released, and we see it as bubbles.

If a SCUBA diver stays under water, say at a depth of 100 feet (about 30 meters), for a certain period of time, some amount of nitrogen from the air will dissolve in the water in his or her body. If the diver were to swim quickly to the surface, it is just like uncorking a bottle of soda -- the gas is released. This can cause a very painful condition, and it is sometimes fatal.

To avoid the effects of quick decompression, the diver must rise slowly and/or make intermittent stops on the way up (called "decompression stops") so that the gas can come out of solution slowly. If the diver does rise too fast, the only cure is to enter a pressurized chamber in which the air pressure matches the pressure at depth (breathing 100-percent oxygen on the way to the chamber also helps). Then, the pressure is released slowly.

Decompression sickness, also known as the bends, is one danger of diving. Other dangers include nitrogen narcosis, oxygen toxicity and simple drowning (if you run out of air before making it back to the surface). If the diver decompresses properly, remains at "recreational depths" (less than 100 feet or so), and is careful about the air supply, the dangers can be largely eliminated. Proper training, good equipment and careful execution are the keys to safe diving.

[Moth]

Thanks Pattie, that was a most excellently educational post.