ajhainer@violet.waterloo.edu (Allen J. Hainer) (09/29/89)
I have a question: Last night I saw the movie "The Abyse" (I know, I know, when will they start employing science advisors for movies like this ;-). What I want to know is, what damage does high preasure do to the body? (I already know what decompression does). In the movie, they breathed an oxygenated liquid to go to great depths. Unless oxygen condensation is the problem, I don't think this would help. But this got me thinking, what limits the depth that humans can dive to (I mean, besides comming up)? -al (ajhainer@violet.waterloo.edu)
andrewt@cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) (10/06/89)
>But this got me thinking, what limits the depth that humans can dive to (I >mean, besides comming up)? I've seen speculation that the maximum pressure that the human body can withstand (the rib cage crushes?) is ~ 80 atmospheres (= a depth of 800 metres). Some other limits are (roughly) 10 metres - breathing pure oxygen is lethal 50 metres - nitrogen narcosis is a serious problem (breathing air) 100 metres - breathing air is lethal (nitrogen narcosis/oxygen toxicity) - breathhold diving record 300 metres - breathing helium causes nervous system problems - ~ scuba diving record 500 metres - simulated diving record (in a pressure chamber) Andrew