Quote:
Originally Posted by Beefcake
This statement isn't entirely correct. The only reason we have nitrogen in our system is because we breathe air (made up of oxygen, nitrogen, and an insignificant amount of other gases such as helium, etc). The nitrogen comes out of solution because unlike oxygen, our body can't metabolize the increased volume of the gas (due to the decreased pressure at shallower depths). Deep water organisms that don't come to the surface and breath air (incl. nitrogen) into their system won't have this same issue.
I'm no marine biologist, but I assume your statement that all (or at least many) organisms are affected (albeit in different ways) by decompression.
- Diving nerd
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I was just pointing out that what happens to changes in pressure can effect changes in humans much moreso than simply "being crushed" by ocean pressure. I'm no marine biologist either but I was just trying to demonstrate how pressure affects much much more than simply having pockets of air being compressed or not as the other poster was saying. You have to consider the state of the gas/liquid and how the precise balance within narrow ranges is so precariously neccessary for life.