How can people die using nitrogen when scuba diving?

Answer 1

It is exactly like coke...

When the bottle is closed there are no bubbles because the pressure in the bottle is higher than the pressure outside the bottle. When you open the bottle you let the pressure out and now the coke is at the same pressure as the air around you. As a result the CO2 escapes the coke and you see bubbles.

Air is only a small part Oxygen. Air is mostly Nitrogen. When a diver goes underwater the nitrogen is pushed into his blood like the coke in the example. If he comes up too quickly then his blood acts like the coke in a freshly opened bottle and the nitrogen bubbles out.

Answer 2

They can die because of the Bends, nitrogen narcosis, and the other risks of Scuba diving. I'm not fully sure, because I am only basically certified and not nitrox certified.

Nitrogen is actually not "used" in scuba diving, it is a natural element of air. The problem with nitrogen is it dissolves into tissues at depths which can cause the problems which can lead to the death of a diver. Excessive nitrogen dissolved into the divers tissues at depth can cause Nitrogen Narcosis which is kind of like a drunken state for the diver. The diver can experience paranoia, overconfidence, disorientation, etc.

As the diver surfaces from depth, the nitrogen that was dissolved into the body is released. This nitrogen is managed by controlling the ascent of the diver and allowing it to work it's way slowly out of the divers system and expelled with exhalation. If a diver surfaces too fast he is unable to expel the gas slowly and it forms bubbles in his blood stream, a problem commonly known as the Bends or DCS (Decompression sickness).

In order to help avoid these problems, deep divers use something called mixed gasses, most commonly Trimix (Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Helium) or Heliox (helium and oxygen) to lower the amount of nitrogen absorbed into the body and reducing the risk of nitrogen based problems.

Answer 3

There are quite a few ways to die Scuba diving just as there are crossing the road.....

Faulty equipment can result in drowning.

A person can suffer an embolism