h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Otto,

I have seen confusion does arise amongst laymen over the difference between the narcs and the bends. I was having a discussion via IM earlier and that subject arose.

I have modified the paragagraph as you suggested. Should read a little better now.

Actually narcotic can be used as both a noun and an adjective. Thats according to WordPerfect's thesaurus. Far superior to MS Word's thesaurus. (Now there an argument inducing statement).

Many Thanks

Stuart

"Actually narcotic can be used as both a noun and an adjective. Thats according to WordPerfect's thesaurus."

True enough, but the point I think Otto Fisch was making was that it is the nitrogen that is narcotic, not the diver himself. I suppose there may indeed be certain members of the opposite sex that, when seen in a diving suit, may have a narcotic effect on others, but I suspect that's not at all what you were driving at.

From the article: "The air we breathe is a mixture of 79% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other gases consisting mainly of argon but small but importan traces of carbon dioxide and water vapour." That adds up to 101% by my book! Why not just say something like "a little less than 21% oxygen and small but important trace amounts of what is mainly argon with ...". In any event, "importan" needs a 't' at the end. Just nitpicking in case you want to catch the typos before the SubEditor does.

"Partial pressure is the pressure exerted by a gas in a mixture of gases if all other gases were absent." If all other gases were absent, there would no longer be a partial pressure - it would be a pure gas with a pressure all its own. Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but I don't think that helps the layman understand what is meant by partial pressure. I would describe it as in the case where there is a mixture of gases (like air), the partial pressure of one of the components is the pressure exerted by that component that contributes to the total pressure of the mixture. Why not note that partial pressure is simply the percentage of the gas in the mixture multiplied by the total pressure? 0.79 * 1000 is quite easily noted to be 790, and from there it's clear where the 790 millibar comes from given that 79% of air is nitrogen. Just a suggestion.

"As a diver descends in water the ambient pressure increases at a rate of one bar for every ten metres. So at a depth of twenty metres, the partial pressure of nitrogen is 1.6 bars, at twenty metres 2.4 bar and at 30 metres 3.2 bars. So a diver at a depth of 30 metres breathing compressed air is subject to Nitrogen Narcosis." I believe you're right about the partial pressures of nitrogen at those depths, but slightly misleading. It might help to note specifically that the partial pressure of nitrogen increases 790 millibar per 10 metres. So at sea level it's 790 mbar, 10m it's 1580 mbar (1.6 bar), 20 it's 2370 mbar (2.4 bar), and 30m it's 3160 mbar (3.2 bar). Someone might be confused and try to add 1 full bar to the p(nitrogen) for each 10m of depth is all I'm saying.

The rest of the article was well-done, IMO. Perhaps a few other typos ("Incidently" -> "Incidentally"), and a couple sentence fragments, but ... heck with it, I'm not an editor.


- JD

Hello Stuart.

I see you're getting a good feel for how Peer Review works Whatever you submit, there's always a bunch of people who say "I have no knowledge of this subject and could you please include explanantions of X, Y, and Z for the layman", and there's quite often a few folks who say "I know all about this and X, Y, and Z are a load of horse feathers". I think you've struck this one down the middle

As for working offline, it's quite simple to write an entry in any text editor, such as Notepad, and only go online to cut'n'paste it into the text box and test the GuideML by hitting 'Preview', although this strategy obviously works much better when you've become more used to using GuideML tags.

Hi JD,

I think this usage of the word narcotic is going to have to be settled by the Sub-Editors, assuming they ever get to see it. I believe I have it in the right context. I think it is the Greek origins of the word that is causing confusion. Any Greek scholars reading this?

From the OED:

narcotic —adj. 1 (of a substance) inducing drowsiness etc. 2 (of a drug) affecting the mind. —n. narcotic substance, drug, or influence. [Greek narkotikos]

Fixed the numbers. That’s what comes from getting your facts from different text books. Most diving text books ignore the 1% and just use 79%/21%. Some simplify it even further and use 80%/20%.

The sentence I have used to describe partial pressure is the classic description with if being the operative word. To use percentages when talking about partial pressure could be even more confusing. I have re-worded the sentence though. Should be a little more comprehensible.

I have moved the paragraph about the possible confusion that can arise between Nitrogen Narcosis and decompression sickness to a footnote. Makes the description of partial pressure follow more cleanly from the previous paragraph which discusses atmospheric pressure.

Those dammed sentence fragments. I know they are there, just thought the grammar checker was being a bit to pedantic. I’ll have another look at them.

Thanks for the comments. This is likely to end up being the most grammatically correct and accurate piece I have ever written in my life.

Regards


Stuart

Hi Gosho,

Thnk you for your kind words. I am finding this a bit like writing a computer programme then submitting it to a bunch of beta testers. The responses I am getting are remarkably similar in style and content.

Yes, I think I have this GuideML worked out now. I downloaded a programme called GuidePost with automatically inserts the necessary tags in an off-line text editor. Makes the job a doddle.

Best Wishes

Stuart

Actually 'beta testing' is the best description of PR I have ever heard.

I find being on the front page a let-down in comparison. You just get the odd 'nice entry' if you are lucky, not all this lovely personal personalised attention.

The subs are volunteer researchers and some of them are better than others. Some cannot spell, some introduce typos where there were no typos before, and others introduce grammatical or factual errors. Some have a sense of humour, others take out the jokes.

I confess I have got to the point where I deliberately leave in the spelling mistakes and where I diverge subtly from the typographical rules for the guide, to make sure that there is something good and obvious for the sub to do.

But the main reason I posted this was so I could sign myself:

a beta-tester called Ben

I think this is pretty much ready now.

You might want to put the second paragraph (about Partial Pressures inside tags to space it out a little bit though - I suspect you forgot that one as all the others are fine.

Nice work, Ben is right by the way, Peer Review is generally when you're article gets commented on and criticised the most.
All my articles have had great debates in Peer Review but when on the front page they quickly find their way onto the 5 most Neglected list

Ah, such is life.

Orcus

Hi Orcus,

Thank you for your encouragement.

I have rearranged the paragraphs under symptoms and added a couple of sentences under Effects. Perhaps you might like to take a look at them.

I think this is properly destined for the “Most Neglected “ category. Nevertheless, I think if anyone is looking for information on Nitrogen Narcosis, this will give them the information they need.

Quality, not quantity is the objective.

Regards

Stuart.

Very commendable too

With far too many entries, the principle seems to be 'Never mind the quality, feel the width'

Gosho, who's had four entries on the front page, three of which have topped '5 most neglected' within a week, and the only reason the fourth hasn't is because it went up today

Hi Stuart,

I think the problem with:

"amnesia surrounding the time when they were narcotic."

... is that the *diver* is not narcotic. The diver is under the influence of the narcotic effect of nitrogen at increased pressure.

as an adjective, 'narcotic' seems to be restricted to describing 'that which causes drowsiness'. I think you will agree that in this case it is not the diver causing the drowsiness, but the gas.

Of course, if most divers would recognise this alternative usage of the adjective, then perhaps the dictionaries simply have not caught up yet. Such is the nature of language change.

It also occurred to me that you might be thinking of the slightly different usage of 'paralytic', meaning 'affected by paralysis' (among other definitions).

well, no conclusive info from me there!

For what it's worth, i think the intended meaning is clear in the context, and if you think that most readers would understand you as you intend, then it ain't broke, and you probly oughtn't to fix it.

Hi Spiff,

As you say, the meaning Narcotic is clear from context, so I think I will leave it as it is. If a Greek scholar can tell me different, I might change it.

I was thinking along the lines of drunk, as in drunkenness. However, drunk is not Greek in origin. Probably good old Anglo-Saxon, as most four letter words in the English language are.

Regards

Stuart

Now that everyone else has made such helpful comments, the only thing I can say is well done - this is a great entry.



- Jimi X

Hi Jimi,

Thanks for your kind words Jimi.

Did you see the one on Decompression Sickness as well?



Stuart

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Yay!

Congratulations!

Let me be the first to crack out the bubbly!



(Makes a change from navy rum and coke)

B

Congratulations!

I would have picked it, but somebody beat me to it...

Can't believe it took so long.

Nice one



Orcus

(I was that someone )
Congratulations, and I look forwards to seeing this on the front page

Thanks for the recommendations guys and Ben. I hope this is just one of many.

Best wishes

Stuart