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From: lindsay@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Xenon/oxygen
Message-ID: <1243@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Sun, 4-Oct-87 21:59:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: k.1243
Posted: Sun Oct  4 21:59:46 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Oct-87 07:19:10 EDT
References: <18@krafla.UUCP> <14016@oddjob.UChicago.EDU>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
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Xref: mnetor sci.bio:683 sci.physics:2383

In article <18@krafla.UUCP> frisk@krafla.UUCP (Fridrik Skulason) writes:
>The reason I am asking this is that it should be possible to create a mixture
>[of of xenon and oxygen] with density just above that of water.  ...
>it should be possible to float around in this.

It's possible to breath oxygenated fluid. There's a wonderful photo in the
26sep87 issue of Science News (vol. 132 #13) showing a submerged live mouse.

This was first done in 1965. There was initially some trouble in getting
the mouse to stay alive afterwards. The article doesn't mention it, but
a human tried the process. It wasn't fun: aside from lung-surface pain,
and aside from getting pumped out afterwards, it turns out that the human
diaphragm isn't strong enough to push all that mass in and out. The
subject got very tired ! 

I have my doubts about floating in xenon. Radon is a noble gas, and cheaper
too: why not use that ?  :)  :)

-- 
	Don		lindsay@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu    CMU Computer Science