Posted by RaiderKarl on March 20, 2001 at 16:35:28:
In Reply to: Physiology and Medical Aspects of Scuba Diving posted by Steve on March 20, 2001 at 07:34:47:
he has an excellent explanation of the gas laws in it. here is how I remember them:
B,C,D,H =
B = Boyles law = breathholding is bad
boyles law states that pressure and volume vary inversely, hence breathholding on ascent as the ambient pressure decreases causes lung embolisms as the volume of air increases.
C = Charles' law = cold fills are better than hot fills
charles' law states that pressure and temperature vary directly, hence if you get a hot fill for your tank to max pressure, by the time you get that tank into the water and cooled off, the drop in temp will also drop your tank pressure.
D = dalton's law = dividing air into its components gives partial pressures of the individual gasses
Dalton's law states that the total pressure of a mixture of gasses (like air) will be the sum of the various partial pressures of the component gasses (N2, O2, CO2, etc) in the mix.
H = Henry's law = high pressure causes higher partial pressure of N2 and O2 dissolved in your blood and tissues.
Henry's law states that gasses in a mixture dissolve into a liquid solution as a function of the individual gasses partial pressures and their particular soluability for that liquid.
Well, thats my fractured semi-scientific version of all that. It works for me, when I have to re-explain to students by a different means what the scuba instructor just tried to tell them about The Gas Laws.