Why do you need to decompress from Heliox?

[dc4bs]

Well, since they say we're running out of easily obtainable Helium, we may see Neon become more economicly viable in 10-20 years. As Helium becomes more 'scarce' the prices will go up.

Similar to 'alternative fuels' for automobiles. When gasoline prices get high enough, the previously more expensive non-oil based fuels will become much more attractive and it will become possible to produce and sell them at a profit. Only THEN will their use become widespread. (Well, providing noone figures out small, cheap, cold fusion or something else we havn't even thought of yet before then. )

We'll just have to wait and see how it all pans out in the marketplace (and research labs)...

 

[lamont]

Can someone please explain how it come that you need to do deco after a certain time, when using Heliox.
I mean if you remove all the Nitrogen from the mix, which is the gas that you need to decompress, what is it left?

Someone please correctly if I'm wrong, but I belive that where you need to start is realizing that all gas which is dissolved in a liquid will bubble. So, you're not really decompressing from the nitrogen, but you're decompressing from the dissolved gas in your blood and tissues. The catch is that oxygen binds to hemoglobin and is not actually dissolved in the blood and tissues, so it doesn't bubble like nitrogen does. When the pressure comes off the only time that oxygen "feels" it is when its in your alveoli in your lungs where it bubbles and offgasses into your lungs. Nitrogen, however, is inert and will bubble, so will N2, Ar, Ne, Xe, etc. The only reason why we normally only worry about Nitrogen is that we're normally diving air which is 21% oxygen, 79% Nitrogen and not much of anything else.

I expect that cyanide gas and carbon monoxide would also not cause the bends because they bind to iron molecules in mitochondria or hemoglobin?

What'd be cool is if you could inject some liquid into your blood that would be totally non-toxic, but would bind to He somehow (I'm going sci-fi here, don't flame me on the reality of the chemistry....)

 

[Green_Manelishi]

Can someone please explain how it come that you need to do deco after a certain time, when using Heliox.
I mean if you remove all the Nitrogen from the mix, which is the gas that you need to decompress, what is it left?
Does Helium have similarities to Nitrogen but in a more forgiving maner, due to the fact that it is more dence?
I am not talking about 3mix, oxygen, nitrogen and helium mixes, i am talking about Heliox(Oxygen, Helium).

And can anyone tell me at what depths you use neon as a mix.

Regards
Jonny

An obvious troll or perhaps just someone whose ... should not be
underestimated. :54:

In any case, basic dive physiology states if it is inert it will be absorbed
and thus require decompression. It's simply a matter of what other effects
will its inert-ness exhibit:

argon is wickedly narcotc

neon is a "bich" to recompress if you get bent.

Hydrogen does not play nicely with lots of O2.

Etc, etc.

G_M