Nitrox

Nitrox is a breathing gas consisting of oxygen and nitrogen with a higher proportion of oxygen than is present in normal air : 21%.

The reason Nitrox is used in Scuba diving is to reduce the proportion of nitrogen in the breathing gas mixture. Breathing nitrogen at depth and then surfacing can cause Decompression Sickness. So, breathing Nitrox whilst diving can have two benefits:

• reduces the risk of decompression sickness
• extends dive times without increasing the need for decompression stops

Nitrox with more than 40% oxygen is uncommon within entry-level recreational diving. The two most popular blends are EANx32 and EANx36 (also named Nitrox I and Nitrox II or simply Nitrox32 and Nitrox36). But, Nitrox with 50% to 80% oxygen is common in technical diving as a decompression gas, which eliminates inert gases, such as nitrogen and helium, from the tissues more quickly than leaner oxygen mixtures eliminate them.

There are several ways of mixing Nitrox in a diving cylinder:

• One can put pure oxygen into a tank and then fill with air to make the wanted mix.
• Remove nitrogen from air with a special filter or membrane
• Have nitrox premixed industrially

Nitrox is not a deep-diving gas mixture due the increased proportion of oxygen in Nitrox: oxygen becomes toxic when breathed at high pressure.

Diving with Nitrox and dealing with Nitrox mixes raises a number of potentially fatal dangers due to the high partial pressure of oxygen. Tanks may explode if treated improperly. Divers who dive too deep may suffer from Oxygen Toxicity.

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