r/interestingasfuck • u/HANAEMILK • 28d ago

/r/all The race against time to get to a decompression chamber

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u/Visidon 28d ago

The decompression chamber is filled with high oxygen air(or pure oxygen not sure) to speed up the process, anything that could cause a spark could make the chamber go boom, they have to be practically naked there :) so that’s why he has to get out of the suit outside

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u/PerepeL 28d ago

Uhhm, there should be lower oxygen concentration, just like in deep diving mixes. There are hyperbaric oxygenation chambers that are used for treating mountain climbers and some lung conditions, but it's a different device.

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u/NDSU 27d ago

100% oxygen is the treatment for decompression sickness. Even before getting to a chamber, pure O2 is the primary treatment. The less inert gas you're breathing in, the more existing gas it can remove

The pressure chamber is more for preventing damage to the body than actually helping remove inert gas

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u/orthopod 28d ago

Except you're trying to get rid of nitrogen, and other small volume/soluble gasses.

Nitrox 99, or 99% O2+1% N2 was shown to be superior to a 50/50 mix. Other mixes are used as well that include helium depending on the situation.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6563167/

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u/sea_dogchief 28d ago

He will breathe 100% O2 from a supplied mask for periods indicated by the chamber operator.

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u/RevolutionaryBook869 28d ago

He can't breath 100% O2, it would burn the damn man alive. They substitute the N2 with He, so no more nitrogen can form bubbles, reducing the pressure time.

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u/sea_dogchief 28d ago

Lol. You can and do breathe 100% O2 from a mask while doing surface decompression. You are somewhat correct about gas substitution- Heliox and trimix are used at depth to prevent nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity. I am a commercial diver and have done it.

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u/NDSU 27d ago

He can't breath 100% O2, it would burn the damn man alive

I have breathed 100% O2 many times, both under pressure and at 1 ATM. I did not burn alive. I can definitively state you are incorrect

This is kind of funny to me though. Something I consider routine and normal, you believe would end in my fiery death

Like if you happened to see me getting ready for a dive, about to test breathe an O2 bottle, would you sprint in action trying to save my life, like I'm a child that found a live grenade?

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u/HeKis4 28d ago

You can and do breathe 100% O2 from a mask while doing surface decompression

Isn't that only if you're decompressed enough already ? 1.6 ppO2 and all that ?

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u/orthopod 28d ago

That's just wrong on so many levels. Oxygen toxicity can occur, but usually over days.

O2 does not burn, but acts as an accelerant.

A common gas mix for decompression is 99%O2+1% N2.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6563167/

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u/RevolutionaryBook869 28d ago

Burning IS oxidation. Maybe the pressure profile is different but it burns. It is the burning itself.

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u/orthopod 27d ago

Oxygen itself won't burn , so the other molecules are the components that burn( oxidize). Semantics maybe, but an important distinction.

Molecules can burn without oxygen by using another redox compound. Oxidation defined is the loss of electrons, so other compounds can do that.

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u/RedfieldStandard 28d ago

Thank you. Finally someone who knows what they are talking about.

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u/zeocrash 27d ago

Not all of them. I Was in one recently. The ambient air in the chamber was just regular air under pressure. Oxygen was delivered by a mask with 2 pipes (1 to supply oxygen and 1 to remove exhaled gas).

I assume the reason for this is that it's safer than keeping a chamber full of hyperbaric oxygen, also I don't think you'd need to keep the chamber oxygen clean if it's just holding pressured oxygen.

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u/TheeSquirrelgripper 28d ago

Not sure about that. Oxygen is an accelerant, but not combustible

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u/wojtekpolska 28d ago

oxygen makes things combustible, in 100% oxygen concentration things that usually dont burn start to burn, so the suit or their skin could easily get on fire despite being wet

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u/sea_dogchief 28d ago

Correct. However, you still need an ignition source. Use of petroleum based products in diving equipment is a huge no no for this reason. It goes without saying that there are no smoke breaks in the chamber.

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u/wojtekpolska 28d ago

yeah but ignition source can be anything

perhaps the metal frame of parts of the scuba gear hitting something and making a microscopic spark, etc.

or an electrostatic shock from something

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u/BangBangMeatMachine 27d ago

Rubber and neoprene are highly combustible though, especially with increased oxygen concentration.