Well, Dr Paul, you have me...a bit
I am aware that breathing diluent gas (A) for a time, and then switching to (B) gas will allow (A) gas to off-gas at its tissue half-time, whilst gas (B) starts to on-gas tissue compartments at a different rate, determined by many factors, including solubility.
BUT...does gas (B) have an effect on gas A that might *change* the off gassing properties of gas (A)?
My question was not "if I want to flush out the helium, will breathing nitrogen instead of helium help?"
Rather it was "does breathing helium after nitrogen change the rate at which nitrogen leaves my tissue, as compared to breathing pure oxygen?"
It strikes me, that on a given trimix or heliox dive, a decompression stop is done (usually around 130 feet) to let helium off gas. The tissue compartment times are much shorter than nitrogen, due to the solubility of helium. However, that tissue compartment is quoted the same no matter what gas mix you breathe while decompressing, as long as it doesn't include helium. SOOooooo....would that helium tissue half-time change if I switched to, say....argox? Would the solubility characteristics of a different gas be relevant?
I'm talking theory here, not practicality. I just want to understand a little more about any possible interaction between non-metabolised gases.
I dunno, when I called DAN, they were stumped.
Whaddya think, am I just missing something obvious?
I am aware that breathing diluent gas (A) for a time, and then switching to (B) gas will allow (A) gas to off-gas at its tissue half-time, whilst gas (B) starts to on-gas tissue compartments at a different rate, determined by many factors, including solubility.
BUT...does gas (B) have an effect on gas A that might *change* the off gassing properties of gas (A)?
My question was not "if I want to flush out the helium, will breathing nitrogen instead of helium help?"
Rather it was "does breathing helium after nitrogen change the rate at which nitrogen leaves my tissue, as compared to breathing pure oxygen?"
It strikes me, that on a given trimix or heliox dive, a decompression stop is done (usually around 130 feet) to let helium off gas. The tissue compartment times are much shorter than nitrogen, due to the solubility of helium. However, that tissue compartment is quoted the same no matter what gas mix you breathe while decompressing, as long as it doesn't include helium. SOOooooo....would that helium tissue half-time change if I switched to, say....argox? Would the solubility characteristics of a different gas be relevant?
I'm talking theory here, not practicality. I just want to understand a little more about any possible interaction between non-metabolised gases.
I dunno, when I called DAN, they were stumped.
Whaddya think, am I just missing something obvious?