Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 205 posts

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#101

Post by nanidin »

slau wrote: post #5

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…

I have experienced nitrogen narcosis before. It was like getting drunk very fast, including the room spinning. I hugged myself and ascended maybe 2-4m above the rest of the group and got back to normal pretty quickly after that and was able to continue to the dive.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#102

Post by Dylan16807 »

genewitch wrote: post #87
gamblor956 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, wheat is made from the seeds, i.e., the grain, of wheatgrass, not the grass. That some bacteria are able to eat the cellulose or other cells in grass is absolutely unrelated to their ability to consume the completely different structures and nutrients in a seed.

sugar is a grass, or corn syrup, which is from a grass... edit: also opiate and opioid are different, i'm talking about the brain chemical, not the drug.

Once you're refining specifically sugarcane down to just sugar, "stuff in grasses" is a really confusing way to describe it. And it's not even right with corn, where the starch has to be chemically altered first.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#103

Post by Rodeoclash »

aaronscott wrote: post #35
slau wrote: post #5

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...

It's worth reading this comment about the use of beer to disinfect water:

https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ol1h45/delet...

It puts forward that the purpose of small beer was mainly because water is boring to drink all the time.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#104

Post by gamblor956 »

genewitch wrote: post #87
gamblor956 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, wheat is made from the seeds, i.e., the grain, of wheatgrass, not the grass. That some bacteria are able to eat the cellulose or other cells in grass is absolutely unrelated to their ability to consume the completely different structures and nutrients in a seed.

sugar is a grass, or corn syrup, which is from a grass... edit: also opiate and opioid are different, i'm talking about the brain chemical, not the drug.

If you're going to say something silly like sugar is a grass it's clear you don't know what you're talking about and I'm going to leave this conversation.

Most sugar in the U.S. is made from beets, which are not a grass.

Also...dark chocolate, soy, spinach, fruit, meat, and coffee are opiate triggers, so if sugar is bad because it triggers an opiate response, so is most of the human diet. It turns out the bodies response to eating...is to trigger an opiate response.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#105

Post by EA-3167 »

sithadmin wrote: post #49
alentred wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I understand, historically, alcoholic beverages were primarily invented and used as a water disinfectant. Rum was used in British navy to disinfect fresh water in barrels. Wine was used to dilute it in water till the 20th century. Fun fact, in ancient Greece people who drank pure wine (not diluting it in water) were considered alcoholics and could be publicly denounced. Beer was used as a typical beverage a…

I'm not sure I buy your claim that rum was ever used to 'disinfect' fresh water on British Navy ships. The 'grog' mix they used was not of sufficient ABV to disinfect the water, as it was handed out at a 4:1 ratio of water:rum. It was moreso about making the daily rum ration difficult to hoard, and much more efficient to transport than beer or wine.

I think at times it also had to do with making disgusting water more palatable, not sterile or anything, just less awful to drink.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#106

Post by EA-3167 »

tobinfricke wrote: post #72
aaronscott wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Previously: "Were Early Modern People Perpetually Drunk? (2016) (hypotheses.org)" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13535868

The first comment is on point, pre-Prohibition the US was basically run on good old constitution juice. Turning excess grain into a storage-friendly form that also fetched a good price was a huge economic reality at all levels, from individual farmers to large land-owners. The side effect of that was that where people used to mostly drink cider and ale, applejack and the like, now it was cheaper and acceptable to just stay perpetually lit on whiskey.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#107

Post by carlmr »

karagenit wrote: post #60
hn8305823 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Maybe this is what Oxygen Bars are actually about but nobody knows it yet.

O2 actually has a stronger narcotic effect than N2, so probably it would have the opposite effect if any.

Also there are plenty of drugs that make you more focused, but they also make you _high_ at a certain dosage, _normal_ is just what's the default level.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#108

Post by eru »

p1necone wrote: post #100
tonyarkles wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone else in this thread mentioned diving. When I was doing my advanced open water course, we did an exercise to demonstrate nitrogen narcosis. Super simple test: we had a card with the numbers 1-16 written on a 4x4 grid in random order. You have to tap the numbers in order and it’s a timed exercise. We did it on the surface in the boat and again at 30m depth; my performance was maybe 20% slower, my buddy was more…

Wouldn't being underwater make you slower just due to the extra resistance of water vs air?

Just being submerged in the water is probably what they mean by 'at the surface'.

The resistance shouldn't change much whether you are 30cm in the water or 30m.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#109

Post by vl »

genewitch wrote: post #62
jerf wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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…

> My issue, though, is i can't find a way to safely generate oxygen for a decent price.

Depends on the definition of generate and decent price, but you can buy stationary medical oxygen concentrator for $1000, portable for $3000. If you want something easier you can buy pre-filled bottles or refill existing bottles at industrial gas supply places. If you want more, you can get a concentrator setup which small private airports use to refill oxygen bottles for small private airplanes.

And lastly, if you need small amount quickly, you can buy Boost Oxygen Bottles from Amazon.

Re: The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure

#110

Post by OliverTowers »

nichohel wrote: post #31

Typo "signiGicant" in abstract.

This could be an unfortunate oversight in an otherwise stellar document, but it biases me to question the entire outcome. If they can't even complete the abstract correctly, what other error is in this paper?
Post reply on HN