3035: Trimix - Revision history

Jkshapiro: /* Explanation */ Overall cleanup; further edits welcome

2026-01-04T04:22:23Z

‎Explanation: Overall cleanup; further edits welcome

CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */

2025-02-04T09:20:09Z

‎Explanation

AK24Ammit: Removed incomplete tag

2025-01-12T18:25:47Z

Removed incomplete tag

Firestar233: changing terminology in transcript

2025-01-10T06:36:23Z

changing terminology in transcript

172.71.99.67: /* Explanation */ maybe it's just me, but I'ts easier to read if the order of gasses is consistent

2025-01-10T06:24:25Z

‎Explanation: maybe it's just me, but I'ts easier to read if the order of gasses is consistent

172.68.55.80: /* Transcript */

2025-01-10T06:21:49Z

‎Transcript

172.68.55.81: /* Transcript */

2025-01-10T06:19:29Z

‎Transcript

172.69.225.154: /* Explanation */ Dead diver eutrophication added.

2025-01-10T05:21:39Z

‎Explanation: Dead diver eutrophication added.

198.41.227.105: Although scuba is an acronym, it has long made the leap from jargon to bona fide word and no longer needs to be capitalized

2025-01-10T00:34:40Z

Although scuba is an acronym, it has long made the leap from jargon to bona fide word and no longer needs to be capitalized

42.book.addict: /* Transcript */

2025-01-09T21:53:36Z

‎Transcript

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
-{{w|Trimix (breathing gas)|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w|scuba set|scuba}} tanks that consists of {{w|oxygen}}, {{w|helium}}, and {{w|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37 and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. Helium safely substitutes a portion of the nitrogen to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths, and to ease the effort required for breathing, as merely reducing the nitrogen ratio in an oxygen/nitrogen mix will increase oxygen to levels that, at the pressures that exist at depth, {{w|Oxygen toxicity|creates other dangers}} (hence why the Trimix ratios also provide slightly lower proportions of oxygen). This comic suggests that, if the ratio of helium to nitrogen/oxygen is too high, a diver will float away before reaching the water to start a dive, as their tank of air starts behaving just like a sufficiently buoyant helium balloon. Divers rarely mix their own blends, so this would be the fault of the supplier who filled the tank from which the cylinder is filled. It would also be impossible to disproportionately breathe more of the non-helium, changing the ratio, although the way the comic depicts the tank only just starting to float ''might'' suggest that it is somehow being adjusted to the 'wrong' ratio as we watch.
+{{w|Trimix (breathing gas)|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w|scuba set|scuba}} tanks that consists of {{w|oxygen}}, {{w|helium}}, and {{w|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37, and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. The decreasing amount of oxygen is necessary in order to prevent {{w|oxygen toxicity}}, and the decreasing amount of nitrogen is necessary to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths. Helium has proven to be a safe choice to fill the gap.
-The reason a helium balloon [[585: Outreach|creates lift]] is that it can inflate. The balloon has a thin and expandable layer, weighing almost nothing, that allows the intrinsically less dense gas to take up space at not much more than atmospheric pressure. The total weight of the filled balloon is less than the total weight of the air it displaces, thus creating {{w|buoyancy}}. A scuba tank is made of metal, is heavy and cannot inflate in anything like normal circumstances.{{cn}} Even with a {{w|vacuum balloon|perfect vacuum inside it}} (if that were possible) it would still weigh more than the equivalent volume of air. You would simply increase that weight if you pumped helium, or ''any'' kind of gas, into it. An inflating helium balloon also gets heavier, but this is more than compensated for by the greater increase in volume. The more you pumped into a rigid metal tank, the denser and heavier it would get, and it will never be able to create any degree of additional lift. The comic falsely implies that adding more helium to the system decreases its net relative weight, without taking into account the need to displace a greater volume of air.
+Helium gas is famously lighter than air. At {{w|standard temperature and pressure}}, air weighs approximately 1.28 g/L, while helium weighs only approximately 0.18 g/L. This means that a helium balloon has a lifting force of about one gram per litre, and in the comic this is humourously depicted as being enough to lift the diver off the ground.
-The real reason scuba divers need to be careful with the amount of helium is to not get too little (or too much) oxygen for the intended depth and pressure, as well as reducing the troublesome nitrogen.
+Scuba tanks vary in size, but a large back-mounted tank, of the type shown, would likely be no larger than 22 L. This would lead to a lifting force of approximately 24 grams. In real life this would not even budge the tank itself, which would weigh over 10 kg, let alone the diver. The scenario is even less plausible because scuba tanks are highly pressurized, making the helium much heavier than unpressurized air.
-The title text asserts that a trimix diver whose gas mix contains an excess of nitrogen runs "the risk of eutrophication". The term {{w|Eutrophication|eutrophication}} describes the process by which nutrients ("fertilizers") accumulate in an environment, typically a body of water, leading to consequences that are often unfortunate for inhabitants or users of that environment. The human body is an ecosystem, but one that is not typically subject to eutrophication, due to its manner of acquiring and jettisoning nutrients. Moreover, the nitrogen in trimix is diatomic elemental nitrogen, not the {{w|Nitrogen_fixation|"fixed"}} nitrogen that serves as a component of eutrophication. The diver would not breathe "fixed" nitrogen unless nitrogen-fixing bacteria were somehow incorporated into the scuba gear, a complex feature of dubious utility.
+The title text asserts that a trimix diver whose gas mix contains an excess of nitrogen runs "the risk of eutrophication". The term {{w|Eutrophication|eutrophication}} describes the process by which nutrients ("fertilizers") accumulate in an environment, typically a body of water, leading to negative consequences. This would not happen in the human body, however, since it has mechanisms to prevent this accumulation. Furthermore, eutrophication is caused by {{w|Nitrogen_fixation|"fixed"}} nitrogen, not the diatomic elemental nitrogen used in trimix.
-[[Randall]] addressed the question "how much helium is needed to lift a human body" in a ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article, ''{{what if|62|Falling With Helium}}''. Helium has also featured in comics [[2766: Helium Reserve]] and [[2972: Helium Synthesis]].
+Another interpretation of the title text is that if a diver dies of nitrogen exposure, then their dead body might cause eutrophication in the body of water in which they were swimming.
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 Eutrophication could also be understood as the diver dying of nitrogen exposure thus adding nutrients (the dead body) to the body of water.
-[[Randall]] addressed the question "how much helium is needed to lift a human body" in a [https://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What if?] article. Helium has also featured in comics [[2766: Helium Reserve]] and [[2972: Helium Synthesis]].
+[[Randall]] addressed the question "how much helium is needed to lift a human body" in a ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article, ''{{what if|62|Falling With Helium}}''. Helium has also featured in comics [[2766: Helium Reserve]] and [[2972: Helium Synthesis]].
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:25, 12 January 2025
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{incomplete\|Created by a FLOATING TRIMIX SCUBA DIVER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}~~
	{{w\|Trimix (breathing gas)\|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w\|scuba set\|scuba}} tanks that consists of {{w\|oxygen}}, {{w\|helium}}, and {{w\|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37 and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. Helium safely substitutes a portion of the nitrogen to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths, and to ease the effort required for breathing, as merely reducing the nitrogen ratio in an oxygen/nitrogen mix will increase oxygen to levels that, at the pressures that exist at depth, {{w\|Oxygen toxicity\|creates other dangers}} (hence why the Trimix ratios also provide slightly lower proportions of oxygen). This comic suggests that, if the ratio of helium to nitrogen/oxygen is too high, a diver will float away before reaching the water to start a dive, as their tank of air starts behaving just like a sufficiently buoyant helium balloon. Divers rarely mix their own blends, so this would be the fault of the supplier who filled the tank from which the cylinder is filled. It would also be impossible to disproportionately breathe more of the non-helium, changing the ratio, although the way the comic depicts the tank only just starting to float ''might'' suggest that it is somehow being adjusted to the 'wrong' ratio as we watch.		{{w\|Trimix (breathing gas)\|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w\|scuba set\|scuba}} tanks that consists of {{w\|oxygen}}, {{w\|helium}}, and {{w\|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37 and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. Helium safely substitutes a portion of the nitrogen to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths, and to ease the effort required for breathing, as merely reducing the nitrogen ratio in an oxygen/nitrogen mix will increase oxygen to levels that, at the pressures that exist at depth, {{w\|Oxygen toxicity\|creates other dangers}} (hence why the Trimix ratios also provide slightly lower proportions of oxygen). This comic suggests that, if the ratio of helium to nitrogen/oxygen is too high, a diver will float away before reaching the water to start a dive, as their tank of air starts behaving just like a sufficiently buoyant helium balloon. Divers rarely mix their own blends, so this would be the fault of the supplier who filled the tank from which the cylinder is filled. It would also be impossible to disproportionately breathe more of the non-helium, changing the ratio, although the way the comic depicts the tank only just starting to float ''might'' suggest that it is somehow being adjusted to the 'wrong' ratio as we watch.

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 The title text asserts that a trimix diver whose gas mix contains an excess of nitrogen runs "the risk of eutrophication". The term {{w|Eutrophication|eutrophication}} describes the process by which nutrients ("fertilizers") accumulate in an environment, typically a body of water, leading to consequences that are often unfortunate for inhabitants or users of that environment. The human body is an ecosystem, but one that is not typically subject to eutrophication, due to its manner of acquiring and jettisoning nutrients. Moreover, the nitrogen in trimix is diatomic elemental nitrogen, not the {{w|Nitrogen_fixation|"fixed"}} nitrogen that serves as a component of eutrophication. The diver would not breathe "fixed" nitrogen unless nitrogen-fixing bacteria were somehow incorporated into the scuba gear, a complex feature of dubious utility.
-Eutrophication can also be understood as the diver dying of nitrogen exposure thus adding nutrients (the dead body) to the body of water.
+Eutrophication could also be understood as the diver dying of nitrogen exposure thus adding nutrients (the dead body) to the body of water.
 [[Randall]] addressed the question "how much helium is needed to lift a human body" in a [https://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What if?] article. Helium has also featured in comics [[2766: Helium Reserve]] and [[2972: Helium Synthesis]].
 ==Transcript==
-:[In a single frame five images of Cueball are shown as a kind of a cartoon event sequence, from left to right, with each image a later time in the process. The first image shows Cueball standing by the shore of a body of water. He is wearing scuba gear, goggles, breathing tubes, scuba tanks with a small H logo on it on his back, and swimming flippers, which almost touch the water.]
+:[In a single frame five images of Cueball are shown as a kind of a cartoon event sequence, from left to right, with each image a later time in the process. The first image shows Cueball standing by the shore of a body of water. He is wearing scuba gear, goggles, a regulator, a scuba tank with a small H logo on it on his back, and fins, which almost touch the water.]
 :[In the next four images he has the same equipment on, but with changes. He is presumably still at the edge of the water, but the water is not drawn in the next four images.]
-:[In the second image, Cueball's scuba tank is beginning to float upwards, so the end that is not teetered to Cueball moves out and up, as shown with three small lines beneath the tank.]
+:[In the second image, Cueball's scuba tank is beginning to float upwards, so the end that is not tethered to Cueball moves out and up, as shown with three small lines beneath the tank.]
 :[In the third image the scuba tank is now floating above Cueball's head and the strings pull his arms a bit upwards. Cueball has turned his head looking up at the tank floating above and behind his head. Again three small lines beneath the tank indicates it is moving upwards.]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Explanation==
 {{incomplete|Created by a FLOATING TRIMIX SCUBA DIVER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
-{{w|Trimix (breathing gas)|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w|scuba set|scuba}} tanks that consists of {{w|helium}}, {{w|oxygen}}, and {{w|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37 and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. Helium safely substitutes a portion of the nitrogen to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths, and to ease the effort required for breathing, as merely reducing the nitrogen ratio in an oxygen/nitrogen mix will increase oxygen to levels that, at the pressures that exist at depth, {{w|Oxygen toxicity|creates other dangers}} (hence why the Trimix ratios also provide slightly lower proportions of oxygen). This comic suggests that, if the ratio of helium to nitrogen/oxygen is too high, a diver will float away before reaching the water to start a dive, as their tank of air starts behaving just like a sufficiently buoyant helium balloon. Divers rarely mix their own blends, so this would be the fault of the supplier who filled the tank from which the cylinder is filled. It would also be impossible to disproportionately breathe more of the non-helium, changing the ratio, although the way the comic depicts the tank only just starting to float ''might'' suggest that it is somehow being adjusted to the 'wrong' ratio as we watch.
+{{w|Trimix (breathing gas)|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w|scuba set|scuba}} tanks that consists of {{w|oxygen}}, {{w|helium}}, and {{w|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37 and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. Helium safely substitutes a portion of the nitrogen to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths, and to ease the effort required for breathing, as merely reducing the nitrogen ratio in an oxygen/nitrogen mix will increase oxygen to levels that, at the pressures that exist at depth, {{w|Oxygen toxicity|creates other dangers}} (hence why the Trimix ratios also provide slightly lower proportions of oxygen). This comic suggests that, if the ratio of helium to nitrogen/oxygen is too high, a diver will float away before reaching the water to start a dive, as their tank of air starts behaving just like a sufficiently buoyant helium balloon. Divers rarely mix their own blends, so this would be the fault of the supplier who filled the tank from which the cylinder is filled. It would also be impossible to disproportionately breathe more of the non-helium, changing the ratio, although the way the comic depicts the tank only just starting to float ''might'' suggest that it is somehow being adjusted to the 'wrong' ratio as we watch.
 The reason a helium balloon [[585: Outreach|creates lift]] is that it can inflate. The balloon has a thin and expandable layer, weighing almost nothing, that allows the intrinsically less dense gas to take up space at not much more than atmospheric pressure. The total weight of the filled balloon is less than the total weight of the air it displaces, thus creating {{w|buoyancy}}. A scuba tank is made of metal, is heavy and cannot inflate in anything like normal circumstances.{{cn}} Even with a {{w|vacuum balloon|perfect vacuum inside it}} (if that were possible) it would still weigh more than the equivalent volume of air. You would simply increase that weight if you pumped helium, or ''any'' kind of gas, into it. An inflating helium balloon also gets heavier, but this is more than compensated for by the greater increase in volume. The more you pumped into a rigid metal tank, the denser and heavier it would get, and it will never be able to create any degree of additional lift. The comic falsely implies that adding more helium to the system decreases its net relative weight, without taking into account the need to displace a greater volume of air.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 :[In the third image the scuba tank is now floating above Cueball's head and the strings pull his arms a bit upwards. Cueball has turned his head looking up at the tank floating above and behind his head. Again three small lines beneath the tank indicates it is moving upwards.]
-:[In the fourth image Cueball is now being lifted up, so his feet are now off the ground and he is tilting forward. The tank is now pointing its bottom almost straight up and Cueball is looking down with his arms out the each side as the tank pulls him up. Two lines on either side of the tank indicate that it now wobbles above him as it lifts him up.]
+:[In the fourth image Cueball is now being lifted up, so his feet are now off the ground and he is tilting forward. The tank is now pointing its bottom almost straight up and Cueball is looking down with his arms out to each side as the tank pulls him up. Two lines on either side of the tank indicate that it now wobbles above him as it lifts him up.]
 :[In the fifth and last image the scuba tank is now pulling a dangling Cueball with his legs splayed high above the ground, above his head's height in the first image. The tank is now turned so it points its bottom to the left with lines on either side indicating wobbling motion. Cueball is floating in a roughly horizontal position as the tank's straps pull him upwards. At this point he yells:]
@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:21, 10 January 2025
Line 18:		Line 18:

	The title text asserts that a trimix diver whose gas mix contains an excess of nitrogen runs "the risk of eutrophication". The term {{w\|Eutrophication\|eutrophication}} describes the process by which nutrients ("fertilizers") accumulate in an environment, typically a body of water, leading to consequences that are often unfortunate for inhabitants or users of that environment. The human body is an ecosystem, but one that is not typically subject to eutrophication, due to its manner of acquiring and jettisoning nutrients. Moreover, the nitrogen in trimix is diatomic elemental nitrogen, not the {{w\|Nitrogen_fixation\|"fixed"}} nitrogen that serves as a component of eutrophication. The diver would not breathe "fixed" nitrogen unless nitrogen-fixing bacteria were somehow incorporated into the scuba gear, a complex feature of dubious utility.		The title text asserts that a trimix diver whose gas mix contains an excess of nitrogen runs "the risk of eutrophication". The term {{w\|Eutrophication\|eutrophication}} describes the process by which nutrients ("fertilizers") accumulate in an environment, typically a body of water, leading to consequences that are often unfortunate for inhabitants or users of that environment. The human body is an ecosystem, but one that is not typically subject to eutrophication, due to its manner of acquiring and jettisoning nutrients. Moreover, the nitrogen in trimix is diatomic elemental nitrogen, not the {{w\|Nitrogen_fixation\|"fixed"}} nitrogen that serves as a component of eutrophication. The diver would not breathe "fixed" nitrogen unless nitrogen-fixing bacteria were somehow incorporated into the scuba gear, a complex feature of dubious utility.
		+	Eutrophication can also be understood as the diver dying of nitrogen exposure thus adding nutrients (the dead body) to the body of water.

	[[Randall]] addressed the question "how much helium is needed to lift a human body" in a [https://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What if?] article. Helium has also featured in comics [[2766: Helium Reserve]] and [[2972: Helium Synthesis]].		[[Randall]] addressed the question "how much helium is needed to lift a human body" in a [https://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What if?] article. Helium has also featured in comics [[2766: Helium Reserve]] and [[2972: Helium Synthesis]].

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Explanation==
 {{incomplete|Created by a FLOATING TRIMIX SCUBA DIVER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
-{{w|Trimix (breathing gas)|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w|SCUBA}} tanks that consists of {{w|helium}}, {{w|oxygen}}, and {{w|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37 and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. Helium safely substitutes a portion of the nitrogen to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths, and to ease the effort required for breathing, as merely reducing the nitrogen ratio in an oxygen/nitrogen mix will increase oxygen to levels that, at the pressures that exist at depth, {{w|Oxygen toxicity|creates other dangers}} (hence why the Trimix ratios also provide slightly lower proportions of oxygen). This comic suggests that, if the ratio of helium to nitrogen/oxygen is too high, a diver will float away before reaching the water to start a dive, as their tank of air starts behaving just like a sufficiently buoyant helium balloon. Divers rarely mix their own blends, so this would be the fault of the supplier who filled the tank from which the cylinder is filled. It would also be impossible to disproportionately breathe more of the non-helium, changing the ratio, although the way the comic depicts the tank only just starting to float ''might'' suggest that it is somehow being adjusted to the 'wrong' ratio as we watch.
+{{w|Trimix (breathing gas)|Trimix}} is a gas used in {{w|scuba set|scuba}} tanks that consists of {{w|helium}}, {{w|oxygen}}, and {{w|nitrogen}}. Trimix comes in some standard ratios between the component gases, depending on the required diving depth, for example 21/35/44 (percentage oxygen/helium/nitrogen), 18/45/37 and 15/55/30 for increasing depth. Helium safely substitutes a portion of the nitrogen to minimize nitrogen's narcotic effects at greater depths, and to ease the effort required for breathing, as merely reducing the nitrogen ratio in an oxygen/nitrogen mix will increase oxygen to levels that, at the pressures that exist at depth, {{w|Oxygen toxicity|creates other dangers}} (hence why the Trimix ratios also provide slightly lower proportions of oxygen). This comic suggests that, if the ratio of helium to nitrogen/oxygen is too high, a diver will float away before reaching the water to start a dive, as their tank of air starts behaving just like a sufficiently buoyant helium balloon. Divers rarely mix their own blends, so this would be the fault of the supplier who filled the tank from which the cylinder is filled. It would also be impossible to disproportionately breathe more of the non-helium, changing the ratio, although the way the comic depicts the tank only just starting to float ''might'' suggest that it is somehow being adjusted to the 'wrong' ratio as we watch.
-The reason a helium balloon [[585: Outreach|creates lift]] is that it can inflate. The balloon has a thin and expandable layer, weighing almost nothing, that allows the intrinsically less dense gas to take up space at not much more than atmospheric pressure. The total weight of the filled balloon is less than the total weight of the air it displaces, thus creating {{w|buoyancy}}. A SCUBA tank is made of metal, is heavy and cannot inflate in anything like normal circumstances.{{cn}} Even with a {{w|vacuum balloon|perfect vacuum inside it}} (if that were possible) it would still weigh more than the equivalent volume of air. You would simply increase that weight if you pumped helium, or ''any'' kind of gas, into it. An inflating helium balloon also gets heavier, but this is more than compensated for by the greater increase in volume. The more you pumped into a rigid metal tank, the denser and heavier it would get, and it will never be able to create any degree of additional lift. The comic falsely implies that adding more helium to the system decreases its net relative weight, without taking into account the need to displace a greater volume of air.
+The reason a helium balloon [[585: Outreach|creates lift]] is that it can inflate. The balloon has a thin and expandable layer, weighing almost nothing, that allows the intrinsically less dense gas to take up space at not much more than atmospheric pressure. The total weight of the filled balloon is less than the total weight of the air it displaces, thus creating {{w|buoyancy}}. A scuba tank is made of metal, is heavy and cannot inflate in anything like normal circumstances.{{cn}} Even with a {{w|vacuum balloon|perfect vacuum inside it}} (if that were possible) it would still weigh more than the equivalent volume of air. You would simply increase that weight if you pumped helium, or ''any'' kind of gas, into it. An inflating helium balloon also gets heavier, but this is more than compensated for by the greater increase in volume. The more you pumped into a rigid metal tank, the denser and heavier it would get, and it will never be able to create any degree of additional lift. The comic falsely implies that adding more helium to the system decreases its net relative weight, without taking into account the need to displace a greater volume of air.
-The real reason SCUBA divers need to be careful with the amount of helium is to not get too little (or too much) oxygen for the intended depth and pressure, as well as reducing the troublesome nitrogen.
+The real reason scuba divers need to be careful with the amount of helium is to not get too little (or too much) oxygen for the intended depth and pressure, as well as reducing the troublesome nitrogen.
-The title text asserts that a trimix diver whose gas mix contains an excess of nitrogen runs "the risk of eutrophication". The term {{w|Eutrophication|eutrophication}} describes the process by which nutrients ("fertilizers") accumulate in an environment, typically a body of water, leading to consequences that are often unfortunate for inhabitants or users of that environment. The human body is an ecosystem, but one that is not typically subject to eutrophication, due to its manner of acquiring and jettisoning nutrients. Moreover, the nitrogen in trimix is diatomic elemental nitrogen, not the {{w|Nitrogen_fixation|"fixed"}} nitrogen that serves as a component of eutrophication. The diver would not breathe "fixed" nitrogen unless nitrogen-fixing bacteria were somehow incorporated into the SCUBA gear, a complex feature of dubious utility.
+The title text asserts that a trimix diver whose gas mix contains an excess of nitrogen runs "the risk of eutrophication". The term {{w|Eutrophication|eutrophication}} describes the process by which nutrients ("fertilizers") accumulate in an environment, typically a body of water, leading to consequences that are often unfortunate for inhabitants or users of that environment. The human body is an ecosystem, but one that is not typically subject to eutrophication, due to its manner of acquiring and jettisoning nutrients. Moreover, the nitrogen in trimix is diatomic elemental nitrogen, not the {{w|Nitrogen_fixation|"fixed"}} nitrogen that serves as a component of eutrophication. The diver would not breathe "fixed" nitrogen unless nitrogen-fixing bacteria were somehow incorporated into the scuba gear, a complex feature of dubious utility.
 [[Randall]] addressed the question "how much helium is needed to lift a human body" in a [https://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What if?] article. Helium has also featured in comics [[2766: Helium Reserve]] and [[2972: Helium Synthesis]].
 ==Transcript==
-:[In a single frame five images of Cueball is shown as a kind of a cartoon event sequence, with each image a later time in the process. The first image to the left shows Cueball standing by the shore of a body of water. He is wearing SCUBA gear, goggles, breathing tubes, SCUBA tanks with a small H logo on it on his back, and swimming flippers, which almost touch the water.]
+:[In a single frame five images of Cueball is shown as a kind of a cartoon event sequence, with each image a later time in the process. The first image to the left shows Cueball standing by the shore of a body of water. He is wearing scuba gear, goggles, breathing tubes, scuba tanks with a small H logo on it on his back, and swimming flippers, which almost touch the water.]
 :[In the next four images he has the same equipment on, but with changes. It should be seen as he is still at the edge of the water, but that is not drawn in the next four depictions of Cueball.]
-:[In the second image  to the right of the first, Cueball's SCUBA tank is beginning to float upwards, so the end that is not teetered to Cueball move out and up, as shown with three small lines beneath the tank.]
+:[In the second image  to the right of the first, Cueball's scuba tank is beginning to float upwards, so the end that is not teetered to Cueball move out and up, as shown with three small lines beneath the tank.]
-:[In the third image the SCUBA tank is now floating above Cueball's head and the strings pull his arms a bit upwards. Cueball has turned his head looking up at the tank floating above and behind his head. Again three small lines beneath the tank indicates it is moving upwards.]
+:[In the third image the scuba tank is now floating above Cueball's head and the strings pull his arms a bit upwards. Cueball has turned his head looking up at the tank floating above and behind his head. Again three small lines beneath the tank indicates it is moving upwards.]
 :[In the fourth image Cueball is now being lifted up, so his feet are now off the ground and he is tilting forward. The tank is now pointing its bottom almost straight up and Cueball is looking down with his arms out the each side as the tank pulls him up. Two lines on either side of the tank indicate that it now wobbles above him as it lifts him up.]
-:[In the fifth and last image the SCUBA tank is now pulling a dangling Cueball with his legs splayed high above the ground, above his head's height in the first image. The tank is now turned so it points its bottom to the left with lines on either side indicating wobbling motion. Cueball is floating in a roughly horizontal position as the tank's straps pull him upwards. At this point he yells:]
+:[In the fifth and last image the scuba tank is now pulling a dangling Cueball with his legs splayed high above the ground, above his head's height in the first image. The tank is now turned so it points its bottom to the left with lines on either side indicating wobbling motion. Cueball is floating in a roughly horizontal position as the tank's straps pull him upwards. At this point he yells:]
 :Cueball: ''Help!''
 :[Caption below the panel:]
-:Trimix SCUBA divers need to be careful not to let the helium percentage get too high.
+:Trimix scuba divers need to be careful not to let the helium percentage get too high.
 {{comic discussion}}
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]