On 2009-09-28 16:29:56 -0400, "mr.rapidan" said:

On Sep 28, 3:48*pm, rw wrote:
David LaCourse wrote:
On 2009-09-28 14:31:30 -0400, Bill Grey sa
id:

Yes indeed a simple mistake for the uninitiated but with possible long
lasting consequences. *The trick would have been to surface no faste
r
than your bubbles assuming you were breathing out.

Correct! *Years later when I got my NAUI ticket I thought of that day
in
Back Lake.

Dave

You wouldn't have had to worry about the bends (nitrogen narcosis) at
that depth. What you should have worried about was the buildup of a
toxic concentration of carbon dioxide in the diving bell.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.


Isn't an air embolism different than nitrogen narcosis?

I don't know anything about it, I was just curious after reading
Dave's very interesting story . . .

Air embolism - a condition resulting from excess pressure in the lungs-
is probably the second most common cause of scuba fatalities. When a
man loses his air supply under water, he has an overwhelming instinct
to hold his breath and surface immediately. The lack of adequate
exhalation during ascent in panic creates excessive pressure in the
lungs. This condition has produced air embolism in less than 15 feet
of water. Increased lung pressure may also occur in a normal ascent if
the diver fails to breathe continuously.

nitrogen narcosis
n. A condition of confusion or stupor resulting from increased levels
of dissolved nitrogen in the blood, as that occurring in deep-sea
divers breathing air under high pressure.

Yeah, it's called busting a lung and it could happen in water of 12 or
so feet. We were told to make sure we exhaled while coming up from 10
feet in a swimming pool while undergoing training. It would have been
very easy to surface with that lung full of air without releasing some
of it.

Dave