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From: bart@ucbvax.ARPA (Bart Miller)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: The bends
Message-ID: <2585@ucbvax.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 16-Oct-84 19:23:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.2585
Posted: Tue Oct 16 19:23:17 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Oct-84 06:46:14 EDT
References: <590@ihlts.UUCP>
Reply-To: bart@ucbvax.UUCP (Bart Miller)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 18

There might be some reasonable justfication for the statement that women
are more succeptable to the bends then men.

As we breath, nitrogen is carried in solution  through our blood.  Nitrogen
is collected in various tissue.  When the pressure is reduced (for a diver,
when s/he surfaces; for an astronaut, when s/he enters the suit) you get
a more rapid release of nitrogen.  The standard anology is a Coke bottle --
when you open it (and release the pressure), the gas comes out of solution and
bubbles form.  If this happens to a person, and the bubbles get too large
before they reach the lungs (and are expelled), the will gather in joints
and other nooks and crannies.  As the pressure reduces, the bubbles get bigger.
You -- pardon the graphic detail -- get ripped apart from the inside out.

So, different tissue releases nitrogen at different rates.  Fat more slowly
than muscle.  So, fat people are more likely to bend then skinny people.
Fortunately or unfortunately, women have a subcutaneous layer of fat not
typically found in men.  This extra fat could cause women to hold nitrogen
longer than (thin) men.  Thus, maybe the 18 vs 12 hours.