Posted by John Walker on June 14, 2001 at 08:55:49:
Steve, between 1899 and 1902 Meyer and Overton noticed a strong correlation of between the anethetic potency of different gases and their solubility in olive oil.
Gas Solubility oil/water ratio narcotic potential
He .015 1.7 4.6
N2 .067 5.2 1
O2 .11 5.0 ?
Co2 1.34 1.6 ?
If divers side with this very popular theory then they would note the possibilty of oxygen narcosis bases on its lipid solubilty compared.
Therefore oxygen would POSSILY be more narcotic than nitrogen, but there are still some unanswered questions to this theory based on carbon chain activities.
JW