Alcohol and bubble formation

[miketsp]

Now we all know that [-]diving[/-] drinking and scuba don't mix but just recently a few things have been making me think about the actual physiology of this.

Does a diver with a high alcohol level in his blood have a higher or lower tendency to DCS assuming no incompetent profiles due to the inebriation itself?

I decided not to ask this in the Diving Medicine forum although it is a serious question.

When alcohol is mixed with other liquids there is a serious impact on the measured surface tension. Example get a glass, pour some coke in leaving some froth on top and then add a dose of rum or other strong spirit. All the bubbles disappear instantly including the head of foam that was above the coke.

Also alcohol loses its liquid molecules to the vapor state much more quickly than water does.
I also read a couple of chemical engineering articles that bubbles don't tend to merge forming larger bubbles when there is alcohol in the solution.

So while not suggesting we go out and get drunk before the dive, what are your thoughts/speculations?

 

[MarkUK]

Now we all know that diving and scuba don't mix but just recently a few things have been making me think about the actual physiology of this.

I hope diving and scuba mix, otherwise we are all literally screwed...

Only pulling your leg, mate, know you meant drinking, but couldn't resist...

Mark

 

[Gombessa]

This may be completely out of context, but I recall seeing reference to some study that shows in animal testing, injecting with alcohol after breathing pressurized air helps survivability from DCS?

 

[do it easy]

I have noticed that when I mix isopropyl alcohol and Simple Green, in roughly equal parts, the bubbles disappear completely, even if I shake it. This evidence further proves that beer is a magical substance, since it has alcohol in it, but can still hold a foamy head.

 

[Busdiver]

Example get a glass, pour some coke in leaving some froth on top and then add a dose of rum or other strong spirit. All the bubbles disappear instantly including the head of foam that was above the coke.

I have now tried this four times and by god you are right. The bubbles are disappearing. However this is not conclusive and I believe I will have to continue carrying these highly scientific tests out to at least 10 trials. Cue a Jimmy Buffet song.

 

[300bar]

When gasses get OUT of solution in a very rappid way they have to go somewhere So instead of staying in solution in the bloodstream and getting expalled in the lungs,they have to get out somewhere before they eneter the lungs.
aka DCS

Boys and girls don't try this on a dive

 

[mfalco]

beer is a magical substance.

I nominate this as quote of the week

 

[bubba105]

Example get a glass, pour some coke in leaving some froth on top and then add a dose of rum or other strong spirit. All the bubbles disappear instantly including the head of foam that was above the coke.

I have now tried this four times and by god you are right. The bubbles are disappearing. However this is not conclusive and I believe I will have to continue carrying these highly scientific tests out to at least 10 trials. Cue a Jimmy Buffet song.

The things a diver will do in the name of science. I'm on the East coast. I'll conduct the same experiment here to make sure it's not just an isolated phenomenon.

 

[nereas]

With alcohol, your main issue is likely to be dehydration. And dehydration is, by all indications that we know of, a major contributing factor towards the development DCS.

Drinking alcohol after a dive needs to be done in strict moderation, and at the same time you need to be drinking water as well, to maintain hydration during the off-gassing period after a dive and during your surface intervals.

 

[crab lover]

But if you drink BEFORE the dive, the alcohol is already there in your system and when the naughty little nitrogen bubbles try to form, the alcohol heroically makes them go away before they even become an issue!

Just a thought...