Breathing from a 30ft. snorkel

[Soggy_Diver]

I wonder if the result would be more extreme.

With a snorkel to the surface, there would be 2 atm on the outside of your lungs, 1 atm on the inside, because the snorkel provides a direct route to surface air. So the difference would be one whole atmosphere. That would be 14.7 pounds per square inch multiplied by all the square inches that comprise the surface of the lungs, so hundreds of pounds in total, I would guess. Maybe the lungs would collapse? Be pushed up into the trachea? Into the snorkel?

The 33 foot snorkel scenario is extreme compared to scuba, because in scuba, the ambient pressure is balanced by compressed air. Lung collapse also does not happen in freediving, I think, because the air in the lungs compresses under pressure, so the internal pressure balances the ambient pressure. A comparable situation would be freediving on an exhale, which can lead to lung damage once there is some depth--not sure how much.

But all that is just a prediction.

 

[Cave Diver]

Thanks guys! I never gave it a thought that someone else would have asked a similar question or I would have checked out search! The guy had given thought to avoiding the co2 buildup via the exhaust valve, but the fact that the muscles aren't strong enough to expand your lungs under the pressure makes perfect sense.
Darn.... that was too easy....Now what can we talk about tomorrow? Guess we'll just have to Work!
BC

No worries. Sometimes the most obvious answer is the hardest to see.

 

[costi]

Oh come on. What Kind of question is this LOL.

This is not even worthy of a response.

He's jerking our chains.

No..not really.. I didn't know how to answer the question he asked.....Didn't have an answer, eh? (Lol)
BTW, Is it a requirement on SB to have serious questions all of the time?
Bob

 

[Splitlip]

Regulator's function is to deliver gas to the lungs at the ambiant pressure of the water.

You cannot breath beyond a couple feet without a regulator because it is physicaly impossible. (Open water class, high school physics and junior high science class.)

 

[wrybosome]

to put it another way, the amount of work required to compress the air from 1 ATA to 2 ATA is more than your diaphragm can do.

 

[gcbryan]

No..not really.. I didn't know how to answer the question he asked.....Didn't have an answer, eh? (Lol)
BTW, Is it a requirement on SB to have serious questions all of the time?
Bob

No requirement at all. Just look at some of them.

 

[mooney]

Oh come on. What Kind of question is this LOL.

This is not even worthy of a response.

He's jerking our chains.

I think this example was actually in my NASDS open water book 22 years ago! Not the exact same numbers but the rest of the deep snorkel theory.


As the others have said, you would be trying to breathe with an additional approx 15 lbs/square inch of water pressure on your chest. I haven't measured the surface area of my chest but it is probably like trying to breath with 6 350lb offensive linemen standing on your chest.

 

[costi]

Regulator's function is to deliver gas to the lungs at the ambiant pressure of the water.

You cannot breath beyond a couple feet without a regulator because it is physicaly impossible. (Open water class, high school physics and junior high science class.)

Well Splitlip, that's two slams in a row on a totally innocent question.....Bad Day?
You know, if this thread bothers you so much why don't you simply ignore it?
BTW. to all others who gave helpful answers, thanks...and good night.
BC

 

[Splitlip]

Well Splitlip, that's two slams in a row on a totally innocent question.....Bad Day?
You know, if this thread bothers you so much why don't you simply ignore it?
BTW. to all others who gave helpful answers, thanks...and good night.
BC

When I saw your original post, I thought it was a joke.

Then when I saw you were serious, I answered. And yeah, you pushed a button to suggest I could not answer the question.

As to my open water and science class comments, ok. I understand this not being retained from high school, but this is basic open water training stuff. Sorry

It was your instructor who let you down.

 

[Crush]

Re-posted from http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/humor-games-clips-yarns-tales/308736-advice-new-diver.html :

I am an easy-going do it yourself kind of guy.

I like swimming and watching fish. Id love to scuba dive but the equipment and corses are so darn expensive.

Can't this be done more cheap? I took some heavy garden hose and duck taped it to a beach ball and put the other end in my mouth. I put on a fany pak full of steel pieces and walked into the pond in my yard and it worked great. I tried making a mask but it leaked real bad and foged up.

Has anyone else tried this? My garden hose starts to get pinched if I go too deep. What kind of garden hose would work for going deeper? Would workboots with weightlifting weights (York) tied to them keep my feet from floating up?