Posted by Elaine on October 26, 2004 at 16:30:12:
In Reply to: Re: 40 ft underwater posted by MHK on October 26, 2004 at 16:16:04:
In healthy humans the narcotic effect of CO2 is perhaps the last thing that can occur in a chain of increasing C02 levels, prior to that in a normal chain of events, C02 is a powerful respiratory stimulant. In 40 feet of water I doubt that "the narcotic" effect of C02 is what causes problems. Things may happen a whole lot faster at the phenomenal depths that some people dive, but my guess is that the basic chain stays intact, since the ratios of the partial gas pressures don't change in relationship to each other with increasing pressure, as long as all other variables remain constant.