User:RexxS/Hydrox

Hydrox is gas mixture of hydrogen and oxygen used in very deep diving. It allows divers to descend several hundred metres.

Hydrogen is the lightest gas (twice as light as helium) but still has a narcotic potential.

History
Although the first reported use of hydrogen seem to be by Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794), who had guinea-pigs breathe it, the actual first use of this gas in diving are usually attributed to trials by the Swedish engineer, Arne Zetterstrom in 1945.

He showed that hydrogen was perfectly usable to great depths. Sadly, following a fault in using the surface equipment, he died during demonstration dive. The study of hydrogen was not resumed until several years later, first by the United States Navy, then by COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises) who developed procedures allowing dives between 500 and 700 metres depth, breathing gas mixtures based on hydrogen, called hydrox (hydrogen-oxygen) or hydreliox (hydrogen-helium-oxygen).

Use
Hydrox may be used to combat High pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS), commonly occurring during very deep dives.

These studies scored a resounding success with a simulated dive to 701 metres, by Theo Mavrostomos on 20 November 1990 at Toulon, during the COMEX Hydra X decompression chamber experiments. This dive made him "the deepest diver in the world".

Biochemical decompression
The United States Navy has evaluated the use of bacterial flora to speed decompression from hydrox diving.