nitro / air??

[Hotpoint]

Originally posted by JoseDominguez
Never thought about the bends though......... mebbe it's to do with nitrogen in high pressure hosing? you could probably get a syringe effect.
Hotpoint, have you got any info on the danger of the "bends" from compressed nitro? I thought you needed to be breathing it whilst under increased pressure for too much to dissolve in the blood. It's got me wondering, I'd like to read up.

No data to hand I'm afraid, I just try and learn the rules rather than research the underlying science. IIRC it was to do with the syringe effect (or am I confusing that with the dangers of Compressed Air?) ... I would imagine that a large volume of Nitrogen suddenly appearing in the bloodstream would have an interesting effect. Even if the gas bubble in your bloodstream didn't initially cause a heart attack, as it dissolved it would be Kind of like the Bends in Hyperdrive

As to your comment about there being more Nitrogen in a Tank than CO2 I thought the opposite was true as the Carbon Dioxide was liquid and will therefore displace a hell of a lot of Air once it turns into gas. I know there is a pressure differential but I didn't think it would be enough to make up for how much more dense the liquid is?

 

[Steve Hancock]

I just want to clarify the difference between nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness or "the bends".

If there is a larger than normal quantity of nitrogen in the blood stream then people begin to experience a high. Laughing gas is nitrogen, and i think (but i'm not sure) it is used by dentists as some kind of anesthetic. In divers there is a tendancy to lose track of time and not follow safety procedures.

In paintball this could pose a potential risk as players might not remember to follow basic safety rules.

Decompression sickness or the bends is caused by bubbles forming in the blood. The bubbles tend to collect at the joints and this combined with the intense pain causes spasms, hence "the bends" as the diver convulses on the deck.

The bubbles are caused by the same thing that makes carbonated drinks bubble when you first open them. In the bottle there is a balence between the a CO2 disolved in the drink and the CO2 in the air space above the drink. When the bottle is opened the pressure drops in the airspace and as a result there is an imbalence in the amount of CO2. This causes the drink to fizz as CO2 escapes quickly.

In the human body the nitrogen levels in the blood stream increase when the air being breathed is at high pressure. If the diver assends to quickly the nitrogen will not have a chance to leave the blood steam through the lungs and be exhaled, leaving the body at a controled rate. In stead the blood "fizzes" like the soda.

Luckly not something us paintballers have to worry about.

 

[Hotpoint]

Originally posted by Steve Hancock
If there is a larger than normal quantity of nitrogen in the blood stream then people begin to experience a high. Laughing gas is nitrogen, and i think (but i'm not sure) it is used by dentists as some kind of anesthetic. In divers there is a tendancy to lose track of time and not follow safety procedures.

Just to be picky Laughing Gas is N2O/Nitrous Oxide (also known as Nos, Nitrous or Nox) not Nitrogen, N2O behaves very differently from Nitrogen (for a start it is explosive and if fed into the air-intake of a internal combustion Engine gives a fierce burst in output

Apparently I still remember some of my A-Level Chemistry

 

[JoseDominguez]

Originally posted by Hotpoint
No data to hand I'm afraid, I just try and learn the rules rather than research the underlying science. IIRC it was to do with the syringe effect (or am I confusing that with the dangers of Compressed Air?) ... I would imagine that a large volume of Nitrogen suddenly appearing in the bloodstream would have an interesting effect. Even if the gas bubble in your bloodstream didn't initially cause a heart attack, as it dissolved it would be Kind of like the Bends in Hyperdrive

As to your comment about there being more Nitrogen in a Tank than CO2 I thought the opposite was true as the Carbon Dioxide was liquid and will therefore displace a hell of a lot of Air once it turns into gas. I know there is a pressure differential but I didn't think it would be enough to make up for how much more dense the liquid is?

Your right about the Co2/nitro thing....... I was thinking tank sizes..... bulk nitro tank vs small co2 bottle......my confusion
Still not sure why co2 is legal and nitro isn't ........ co2 is more likely to put you under than nitro (your breathing is controlled by co2 in the blood, not oxygen, would you believe). So fairly low concentrations of c02 can knock you out (8% or so).......you hit the floor (which is where the co2 is building) and you don't wake up.
Edited 'cos I've realised what's up.
Just worked out why Nitro is considered so dangerous (obvious really)
It's not toxic or anything...........but it does displace oxygen (we knew that) but it's already at 79% in the air and it's not heavy, so it doesn't take too much to produce an oxygen deficient atmosphere at breathing height.......you can be out in two breaths without any warning (your still breathing, but the brain is starved of O2). So it must be the asphyxiation danger that makes Nitro unsuitable as a propellant in the UK. So it's not the bends, it's the danger of oxygen starvation.