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Breathing oxygen at depth?
I know that breathing pure Oxygen at a depth below about 20ft. (underwater) can be deadly. I forgot why this is true. Does anybody know? Please explain in detail.
Asked by Aaron time:2010-08-14 09:58:01answers (21)
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England 2-1 Germany
answer: <3 Kim <3 time: 2010-08-31 20:37:17england win and lose vs argentinia
answer: Bella Italia time: 2010-08-26 21:44:39To expand upon Alex's answer: central nervous system oxygen toxicity is commonly considered to be a signficant risk underwater when oxygen partial pressures exceed 1.6 absolute atmospheres (which with 100% oxygen in the ocean is at 0.6 atm of water pressure or 19.8 feet). The main risk with CNS oxygen toxicity is the possibility of epileptic-like convulsions leading to death by drowning or embolism. The exposure times needed before symptoms appear (which in addition to convulsions may include visual or auditory disturbances, nausea, muscle tics/twitches, irritability, and dizziness in any order) can be highly variable, but typically can be measured in terms of minutes.
Pulmonary oxygen toxicity, on the other hand, requires relatively long exposures to oxygen partial pressures above 0.5 atmospheres. The exposure times required are typically measured in hours, which makes pulmonary oxygen toxicity a low risk for most scuba diving applications.
One hypothesis about the mechanisms involved with oxygen toxicity involves ionized oxygen molecules called free radicals. The metabolic process of converting oxygen to energy produces free radicals as an intermediate step, which are highly reactive molecules. If free radicals escape from the cell they can cause all sorts of damage, so our body has developed protective chemicals that help neutralize free radicals. However (so goes the hypothesis), in the presence of high oxygen partial pressures the quantity of free radicals produced overwhelms the body's defensive mechanisms and interfere with normal biochemical reactions, thus producing the symptoms of oxygen toxicity. I don't know if this hypothesis has been proven or not.
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Breathing oxygen at depth?
