PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF BUBBLE FORMATION.

Biophysical concepts regarding the production and growth of bubbles in gas-supersaturated solutions were considered with reference to the problem of decompression sickness. It was demonstrated that solutions, including blood, which are free of gas nuclei do not form bubbles in response to decompression alone, despite the presence of large amounts of dissolved gas. Such findings emphasize that the comprehensive understanding of decompression sickness requires elucidation of the basic physical-chemical factors responsible for cavitation or initiation of nuclei in solutions. Observations were made on a mechanism for producing nuclei by continuous contact and separation of surfaces tribonucleation. Unlike several other possible mechanisms, tribonucleation was shown to be capable of producing nuclei from which bubble growth occurs under the relatively mild experimental conditions that can be encountered in vivo. Author