this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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xkcd

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You don't want the nitrogen percentage to be too high or you run the risk of eutrophication.

https://explainxkcd.com/3035/

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Got confused by "nitrogen"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The air we breathe is 21% oxygen 78% nitrogen and 1% other stuff. For scuba diving increased pressure at depth on boards more nitrogen in your body than normal so when you surface that extra nitrogen can form bubbles in places which shouldn't have bubbles and that can lead to injury/ death.

Scuba diving is a lot of fun. I encourage a9nyone vaguely interested to ho to their local scuba shop and do a demo dive.

[–] mossy_ 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The explainer author put in some serious work for today's. I would've had no idea what this one was about

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Helium is lighter than air. Nitrogen dissolved in water leads to eutrophication, where the watercourse encourages bacterial and algal growth. Also too much nitrogen will kill you, so the diver will be the nutrient source, is I think what's implied.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The only real danger of too much helium is sounding like Dory when talking underwater.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear 2 points 1 week ago

There is an amazing audio tape where an astronaut who has been living in a helium enriched underwater laboratory for a month gets a phone call from President Johnson.