You hear folks say that using Nitrox reduces Narcosis. I think it is a bit more nuanced than that. My understanding is the following. Suppose that I do two dives to the identical depth with identical ascent and descent profiles. One is on air and one on Nitrox, say 30%. For each dive I stay down until within a minute or two of NDL and then start to ascend. It would seem to me that
1. The Nitrox dive would last longer but since NDL is based on compartment loading I would be equally narced at the end of bottom part of both dives since I have equal Nitrogen loading. So Nitrox does not reduce the maximum ammount of narcosis reached although it does reduce it early on in the bottom time.
2. Since I start the ascent with the same Nitrogen loading I will offgas Nitrogen faster with the Nitrox and thus might be a bit clear headed at the end of the Nitrox dive. This being diver dependent.
Anything wrong with this?
1. The Nitrox dive would last longer but since NDL is based on compartment loading I would be equally narced at the end of bottom part of both dives since I have equal Nitrogen loading. So Nitrox does not reduce the maximum ammount of narcosis reached although it does reduce it early on in the bottom time.
2. Since I start the ascent with the same Nitrogen loading I will offgas Nitrogen faster with the Nitrox and thus might be a bit clear headed at the end of the Nitrox dive. This being diver dependent.
Anything wrong with this?