Air Vs Nitrox

[bumcikaz]

Op get nitrox certified first, then u will have your answers

 

[KeithG]

how many inhalation cycle can i get with air Vs Nitrox?

To answer this question: assuming you use the same size tank, filled to the same pressure, there will be no difference on the number of "inhalation cycles" (breaths) that you get. You will have the same volume of gas in both cases so you will get the same number of inhalations.

But you also hinted at a very general question "what is the difference between..." to which many people are responding.

Which question are you seeking an answer for?

 

[doctormike]

last time i was using air, other people on the boat were using a nitrox, we almost assend and desend on the same time !! so why nitrox ? we were doing safty stop togeather !!

This probably has more to do with the dive logistics than with physiology. If a divemaster is leading a group of divers that are supposed to stay together (for safety or scheduling reasons), then they would all need to ascend once the people with air had hit their non-deco limits, or sooner, if someone had run low on gas.

If everyone was diving independently with their own dive plan, and everyone was good enough with gas consumption that they were limited by NDLs and not gas, then the nitrox divers would most likely have longer dives for a given depth (assuming that you were deep enough for this to be a factor).

There are two other reasons for diving nitrox that were not mentioned, one true and one which I suspect is mythical, but strongly defended by many divers!

1) Decreasing the small chance of an "undeserved DCS hit". By diving nitrox and setting your computer to air, you will be loading less nitrogen for a given profile. I did this for a while after my chamber ride last year. Here are the details if you are interested.

2) Many people feel that they are less tired when diving nitrox as compared to air, especially for multiple dives over multiple days. This is a controversial point without a lot of scientific evidence to back it up, but it's out there.

Op get nitrox certified first, then u will have your answers​

I'm assuming that the OP doesn't want to get certified until he or she understands why it would be of value, so that's why the question was posted. It seems that there was some sort of misunderstanding that nitrox improved your gas consumption rate, but that has been corrected.

 

[elan]

They did answer your question. Nitrox gives you more no decompression time given you have enough gas. There is no difference in how many cycles you can do on a tank as the urge of breathing is controlled by CO2 not by ppo2.
I would recommend to take a nitrox course - it will answer those question. BTW 36 is not appropriate for 30m

 

[Rhone Man]

From the nature of his question, I would guess that the OP is not a diver and so is posing a general interest question. (Either that or he is a troll, but I'll assume good faith).

• Nitrox is just oxygen enriched air. The main benefit to a scuba diver is not the increased oxygen but the reduced nitrogen. This means that a diver's body will absorb less nitrogen during the dive and lower their risk to decompression sickness ("the bends") and increase the amount of time they can spend underwater before they have to perform underwater decompression stops.
• Contrary to common belief, the increased oxygen content does not allow you to "breathe less" thereby extending your gas supply. You go through your gas supply pretty much at the same rate using air and nitrox.
• Curiously the extra oxygen does cause a problem if you go too deep, but that is not likely to happen at 30 metres.

• For the dive which are contempating, visiting a wreck at 30 meters, and just one dive (no reptetitive dive) it is unlikely you would derive significant benefit from nitrox. Unless you are reasonably good on gas consumption, likely your dive time will be limited by running low on gas. However, if you are good on gas consumption (or have a very large tank), theoretically you could have a longer dive on nitrox before hitting mandatory decompression stops. At 30 metres on air you could have a bottom time of 25 minutes on NOAA standard air tables, but with Nitrox 36 you could have 40 minutes on the NOAA EAN36 table.

 

[gizmo1972]

breath cycles the tanks size is the same so its the same amounts of gas weather it be air or nitrox
but simply put Nitrox is better for you !

 

[dfx]

that didn't answer my question !!

i said, i will be doing 1 dive using 1 tank only.

You still have to obey the no-decompression limits for a single dive. At 30 m (100 ft), you have 20 minutes NDL on air, but 25 minutes no EAN32, and 30 minutes on EAN36. For single dives, this is the only difference between nitrox and air. Well, this and an increased risk of oxygen toxicity.

 

[TSandM]

It sounds as though you have discovered one of the secrets of Nitrox diving . . . Nitrox has its greatest effect on no-decompression time in the "moderately deep" depth range (60 to 100 feet or so), but MOST divers have to end their dives to those depths because they are short on breathing gas, and not because they are running into their decompression limits.

Nitrox has little or no effect on how fast you use up your gas, because it isn't oxygen that determines your breathing rate, it's carbon dioxide, and that is related to how much you move around, and not what you are breathing.

 

[beaverdivers]

At 100 metres on air you could have a bottom time of 25 minutes on NOAA standard air tables, but with Nitrox 36 you could have 40 minutes on the NOAA EAN36 table.

I'm sure you mean 100 feet, right.

 

[supergaijin]

that didn't answer my question !!

Don't be rude- people are trying to help you. Unfortunately you don't seem to understand the answers.

last time i was using air, other people on the boat were using a nitrox, we almost assend and desend on the same time !! so why nitrox ? we were doing safty stop togeather !!

i though having more training might raise my bottom time, but im kinda hate the idea that im only allowed 20 to 30 min on most of the dives i do!!

Many people make this mistake. A tank of gas has a volume, and that volume controls how many breaths you get from it. It doesn't make a difference whether it is Nitrox or normal Air.

More training will not increase your bottom time. Learning how to dive and breathe correctly will.