No doubt about it: argon reduces heat transfer better than air!
Definitely not a placebo effect! Well, wait a minute now....At least not if the diver purged his suit
at least 6 times to get that, roughly, 20% improvement.
Question: How many divers actually purge their suits
at least 6 times with the argon? If they didn't purge 6 times, how much less improvement did they achieve? Did they still sense a significant improvement? Sounds like many still felt it was significant. Was it?
Actually, I never doubted that argon reduced heat transfer, just whether it's worth the trouble when other simpler methods may work better, such as using more insulation, using more air in the suit, avoiding constriction, etc.
I'd love to see a study of the thermal effects of simply using
more air in the drysuit, of air that stays
drier when purged more often during the course of the dive, which often happens as a consequence of having more air in the suit, and of simply
increasing insulation in areas of high heat transfer.
I'm going to guess the improvement might be greater than 20%....it sure
feels like it! And I
know it's not a placebo effect!
Of course, there are drawbacks to using more air in the suit. Simplicity isn't one of them, though....
Dave C