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David Blaine again!
- Thread startertrux
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
If that is so then i stand corrected but i'm still left explaining to my non-freediving mates what is what - difficult at the best of times
Oh I agree, no worries. With guys like Herbert and Tom out there.... :head
One of the profile segments they showed during his warm-up was supposedly of him doing a 200 foot (61m) freedive in the Caymans recently, so he was at least freediving there.
When I was a basic EMT at my university 20 years ago, oxygen was considered a "drug," and it was the ONLY "drug" we were allowed to administer without the prior approval of a doctor.
Dunno whether times have changed since then, but in my mind, Blaine used a performance-enhancing drug to achieve his record. Just like Marion Jones used PEDs during her track career, just like countless other athletes (whose achievements have since been vilified) have done.
Dunno whether times have changed since then, but in my mind, Blaine used a performance-enhancing drug to achieve his record. Just like Marion Jones used PEDs during her track career, just like countless other athletes (whose achievements have since been vilified) have done.
You're right -- whether it's prohibited or not is a whole 'nother question.
This will probably expose my ignorance (and someone may already have touched on it), but are there distinctions between, I guess, non-assisted oxygen apnea records (i.e. poolside breathe-up only using the oxygen available FROM THE AIR AROUND YOU), and what I view Blaine did, i.e. an ASSISTED oxygen apnea record where he was able to boost his performance by using pure 02, which is higher in 02 content than the mix of 02 and whatever else that we all breathe in during the course of the day?
This will probably expose my ignorance (and someone may already have touched on it), but are there distinctions between, I guess, non-assisted oxygen apnea records (i.e. poolside breathe-up only using the oxygen available FROM THE AIR AROUND YOU), and what I view Blaine did, i.e. an ASSISTED oxygen apnea record where he was able to boost his performance by using pure 02, which is higher in 02 content than the mix of 02 and whatever else that we all breathe in during the course of the day?
Static apnea records as we know them from freediving, and oxygen apnea records are completely different disciplines and have very little common. If you read through this thread, you can find that when doing O2 apnea you are fighting completely different physiological problems than in plain air apnea.
While at the freediving STA discipline, oxygen is prohibited, I'd tell that oxygen at oxygen apnea records is inevitable, if not mandatory.
While at the freediving STA discipline, oxygen is prohibited, I'd tell that oxygen at oxygen apnea records is inevitable, if not mandatory.
Yes, sorry, I know, it is long and full of redundant posts, so it's not funny reading through it. Try reading this one, it describes the main differences: http://forums.deeperblue.net/710157-post62.html (post #62)Teach ME to be lazy and not go through the whole thread!
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Ive got a question... In the last forum about David Blaines record breaking attempt it was noted that the "samba" he displayed at the end of the dive was very violent and could have been attributed to O2 poisoning. So during this attempt, how was he so calm and collected after his dive?
He literaly came out of the ball, grabbed the micraphone and talked about how good he felt. You could tell that he was trembling a bit but I would have thought that he would have been all out convulsing.
He literaly came out of the ball, grabbed the micraphone and talked about how good he felt. You could tell that he was trembling a bit but I would have thought that he would have been all out convulsing.
There are many factors playing a role at oxygen toxicity. Especially the length of exposure to O2, and the partial pressure (it means also depth) are the most important factors. Fatigue, nitrogen saturation, CO2 saturation, physical effort, etc will play a role too. It was not quite clear how long Blaine ventilated under oxygen at the previous attempt, or whether he breathed nitrox during some periods or the entire UW stay, but one is clear: he could not have surfaced without desaturzing nitrogen with O2 after a week under water in depth up to 2.8m (I believe that was the maximal depth). And since he spent most of the time sitting or laying on the bottom, he certainly was pretty well charged with N2. So either he's overdone it with the O2 exposure, or the other factors hit him.
I just want to correct my statement: the five time ratio is valid for comparing air with oxygen outside the lungs. When in lungs, the the hypothetical maximal partial pressure of O2 in air is 160 mmHg (21% from the atmospheric pressure of 760 mmHg). In reality it is significantly less: typically around 100 mmHg, in rest little bit more, and with hyperventilation it can raise to some 130 - 140 mmHg (possibly slightly more with very strong hyperventilation).
The difference in the PAO2 is due to water vapor and CO2 content in the alveoli. It would be about the same difference when breathing O2: 760 mmHg - 60 mmHg = 700 mmHg, or up to ~740 mmHg at hyperventilation (or possibly even little bit more at long and profound hyperventilation, which is needed for O2 apnea).
Additionally, the partial alveolar pressure of oxygen cannot drop below some 50 mmHg (the value may differ depending on conditions). At O2 apnea the minimum may be higher if the pre-apnea hyperventilation was not sufficient and the CO2 grows over the level at normal apnea, but let's assume the same level.
So at air apnea with moderate hyperventilation, we can use approximately 130 mmHg - 50 mmHg = 80 mmHg of oxygen. At O2 apnea, with strong hyperventilation, you can hypothetically use 740 mmHg - 50 mmHg = 690 mmHg of oxygen. The ratio of oxygen to plain-air capacity would be then 690 / 80 = 8.6 and not 5 as I previously stated. That would hypothetically allow an apnea of almost an hour and half at the best breath holders!
Of course, as I already mentioned in the post #62, there are many other factors playing a role, and also the consumption will be higher, so the real maximum certainly cannot reach that theoretical level, and will be much lower. The basic problem, as already mentioned, will be the CO2 level. However, the currently achieved ratio of just about 2 (even less at Tom Sietas), still seems to be quite far from the possibilities O2 offers.
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Im glad I dont have a TV! I didnt miss it, and I am goinng freediving this weeekend on ROTA in the CNMI islands where I live. I try to be in the ocean freediving or spearfishing two days out of the week, static apnea (especially O2 assisted) Records mean little to me really, but Ill be sure to tell the fish that a human held his breath for 17 minutes, I doubt they will be impressed. I am impressed by practical dynamic records, like the constant weight, and no fins records, because they are bodies in motion; atheletes who are refined for activity on a breath hold. I revere a 3 minute dynamic as much more of an accomplishment than a 5 min static anyday!!
I am curious how long that record will last. How long till someone who allready has a 10minute air hold decides to look into breaking the O2 record by serious times? I wonder...
anyone else wonder with me??........
it cant be too long can it?
at any rate I dont think any O2 record is very practical in a real world sense.
best of luck to you all.
TBGSUB
I'm going fishing! later!
I am curious how long that record will last. How long till someone who allready has a 10minute air hold decides to look into breaking the O2 record by serious times? I wonder...
anyone else wonder with me??........
it cant be too long can it?
at any rate I dont think any O2 record is very practical in a real world sense.
best of luck to you all.
TBGSUB
I'm going fishing! later!
Pure oxygen breath-holding does in fact have a very practical application, primarily as a way to replace commercial scuba divers with freedivers. There is a complicated method to freedive on pure oxygen without getting oxygen toxicity. This could allow extremely deep freedives up to 300m deep without any requirement for decompression. I have been working on this concept for a while, and I hope to get some data soon.
Disclaimer: Please don't try pure oxygen stunts at home or in the ocean!
Disclaimer: Please don't try pure oxygen stunts at home or in the ocean!