71–80 of 205 posts
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"Except for helium, no other gas exists which does not have some form narcotic effect at higher pressures." I assume the narcotic effect of fluorine, chlorine and bromine are basically unstudied...
i got a lungful of chlorine gas once and it wasn't narcotic in the slightest. I wheezed and coughed for about 20 minutes.
Just completed my deep (40m/120ft) diver certification. A significant amount of the course was focused on nitrogen narcosis, and how to handle/detect it. Apparently, some divers will start feeling the narcotic effect between 20-30m. Beyond 30m, a significant amount of divers can feel the effects. Beyond 40m is the realm of tech diving, with trimix (helium/nitrogen/oxygen) or even heliox (helium/oxygen). I know nothin…
Your comment about being continuously narked reminded me how in early human history people relied on low-alcohol beer as a safe water supply. So back then it was a double-whammy. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-conflicted-hi...
"Were Early Modern People Perpetually Drunk? (2016) (hypotheses.org)"
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"We’re basically continuously narked, we’re just so used to it we don’t even know." Just because one direction on the gradient means that we respond in a way that looks like a narcotic does not mean that the other direction will respond in the opposite manner. I'm sure the nootropics folks would have discovered being super not high by now if it were as easy as breathing a mixture that doesn't have nitrogen in it.
as siblings commented, pure oxygen gets you high. a couple of breaths of pure oxygen will relieve pain and induce euphoria. I am not entirely clear on the definition of "narcotic" so i may be being redundant. My issue, though, is i can't find a way to safely generate oxygen for a decent price. I know electrolysis works, but these atomic sieves look safer. They're also difficult to acquire without a prescription, at l…
While anesthesia isn't particularly well understood, the thing that weirds me out is not the neurological mysteries, but that noble gasses like Xenon are anesthetics!
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Worth noting that, while this model has been around for a few decades, it does not have many adherents among neuroscientists. Which is not to say that it is wrong necessarily, just that I wouldn't want readers to get the wrong idea that this is a consensus view.
neuroscientists are just mad that "gut feeling" is actually the truth, and we're generally being manipulated by the billions of microbes in our guts. Simple example: why do people crave cake when they're on a diet that doesn't allow cake? There are microbes that convert stuff in grasses (corn, etc) into opioids. Opioids are great, make us feel great, and if we are used to having opioids and suddenly stop, we go into…
Anecdotally, as a mountaineer, I love the effect of a little less atmospheric pressure. Not loads less, above 3000m it starts getting inconvenient. But 1000-2000m my mind feels more clear and focused than at sea level. I wonder if this is related?
For example: The kidneys take over shunting some wastes out that your lungs can't breathe out due to the thinning atmosphere. This means you urinate more which drags electrolytes with it and likely other things.
I couldn't begin to guess what might be going on with you based on what little you have said.
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neuroscientists are just mad that "gut feeling" is actually the truth, and we're generally being manipulated by the billions of microbes in our guts. Simple example: why do people crave cake when they're on a diet that doesn't allow cake? There are microbes that convert stuff in grasses (corn, etc) into opioids. Opioids are great, make us feel great, and if we are used to having opioids and suddenly stop, we go into…
Cake does not generally contain grasses...and if it were true that there were trains of gut flora that converted sugars to opioids almost everyone in America would live in a perpetual state of intoxication. Sugar withdrawal is also not even remotely similar to opioid withdrawal.
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Grog was at least 10% alcohol, plus lime juice. Navy rum was 65% or 130 proof. That's more than enough to inhibit most waterborne diseases such as cholera (inhibited in wine at 6.25% abv, though wine has tannins and phenols).
Yikes, I just checked, and Captain Morgan's is 35% Alcohol. I'm aware of Bacardi 151 (75.5% alcohol) which is like fire water to me. Can't imagine drinking something so concentrated regularly.
I wonder if there's a cheaper filler gas we could use besides He. Perhaps methane, hydrogen, or acetylene, though they're quite flammable.
I wonder how pure oxygen (at low pressure to avoid toxicity) would work. There's still a substantial fire risk, as the Apollo 1 fire demonstrated, but unlike flammable filler gases it won't immediately kill you with a single spark. With a sufficiently fire-proof environment, and a full body fire-proof suit, maybe it could be done. EDIT: Although it seems the Apollo 1 fire happened with a pressurized oxygen atmosphere…
Working from inside a hard-shelled pressure vessel would definitely be inconvenient. You could also build your home office 5000 m above sea level. Or work in a high-altitude balloon.
Either way, the rebreather option seems a lot more practical.