1. Causes“Nitrogen narcosis is basically the change in a person's state of mind due to breathing high partial pressure nitrogen. While nitrogen is not the only gas in a scuba diver's tank (like oxygen and carbon dioxide), it is still a major component of air, as 79% is nitrogen. Therefore according to Dalton's law of partial pressures, the sum of these non-reactive gases would constitute the total pressure. The most important factor that causes nitrogen narcosis is related to depth. The deeper the diver descends, the greater the partial pressure of nitrogen and other gases. Other causes of narcotic effects are uncertain. Nitrogen is classified as an inert gas as it does not participate in any chemical reaction in the human body, therefore the effect should be due to a physical reaction. Testing other inert gases such as argon, neon and xenon it was found that the narcotic effect in depth was correlated to the relative weights of the individual molecules; an increase in molecular weight meant a greater narcotic effect. Other tests have also found correlations between inert gases being more soluble in fats than water having a stronger narcotic effect. However, due to the numerous inconsistencies and generalizations with these gases, these theories are still uncertain and therefore we limit ourselves to depth as the key indicator and measure of when and how nitrogen narcosis occurs. To measure depth many people follow what is called “Martini's Law”. Basically for a diver the scale is as follows: from 20-30m slight dysfunctions in performance occur, from 30-50m those phases begin in which the person becomes excessively self-confident, unable to respond to danger, perceptual narrowing. At 50 meters hallucinations and lack of...... half of paper ......be instructed on the depths and risks during the dive. Moving at a certain speed and only at a certain depth can be a way to prevent nitrogen narcosis. Prevention can also be achieved if the diver is a professional who trains constantly and therefore has the ability to resist those depths longer than normal subjects. Another method to prevent nitrogen narcosis is to replace helium with nitrogen to dilute the oxygen needed for diving. The only problem is that helium is expensive. If nitrogen narcosis still prevails and affects someone, treatment is simple as long as people quickly recognize that the individual is narcotic. Treatment involves rising to the surface of the water at a controlled speed and trying to avoid contracting other symptoms as you are pulled up, such as decompression sickness, which would further complicate treatment..