Thinking about a 60 foot snorkel .

[Charlie99]

#2 - If the snorkel is made of hard plastic, the ambient pressure won't be transferred to the air inside. If it's made of soft plastic, the snorkel will collapse. But what if it's made of a softer to an increasingly harder material as you go down in depth. Just enough so that it doesn't collapse and just enough to have ambient pressure transfer to it….

ok guys, try and kill my genius idea now!

The physics are still against you. Imagine that somehow your snorkel has managed to change pressure in the air to match ambient. Now you have 2.8ata at one end of the tube and 1ata at the other end. That large pressure differential will cause a very strong flow of air from the bottom, up and out of the top of the snorkel.

Except that you don't have an air source a the bottom, so ........
yep. It ain't gonna happen.

Now compare this to a 60' long hose open on both ends, one end above water, one down at 60'. The reason the water is at equilibrium is the weight of the water column. If you replace the water with air, then the much lighter weight of air means the column of air is not in equilibrium.

 

[bygolly]

The physics are still against you. Imagine that somehow your snorkel has managed to change pressure in the air to match ambient. Now you have 2.8ata at one end of the tube and 1ata at the other end. That large pressure differential will cause a very strong flow of air from the bottom, up and out of the top of the snorkel.

And then this might happen:



They had this guy at 270 feet or so but even at 60.....well:shocked2:

 

[Bubble_Boy]

lol, i give up, it's a stupid idea

 

[Bubble_Boy]

No wait! what if we had 1 way flow chambers throughout the snorkel? that way pressure could be different at different levels and air couldn't go back up the tube!?

 

[pjones]

lol, i give up, it's a stupid idea

Really? So quick? But you haven't tried it yet. How do you know were not all lying to you so we can take your idea and market it. You know they always say not to trust people on the internet. You should attempt this theory of yours before giving up on it so quick.

... Don't forget the camera!

 

[DevonDiver]

No wait! what if we had 1 way flow chambers throughout the snorkel? that way pressure could be different at different levels and air couldn't go back up the tube!?

You still wouldn't suck it down against the water pressure on your chest.

Basically, you're talking about using your lungs to compress the air to 2.8atm.

It's time to review your physics...Scuba Diving Physics - The Gas Laws

 

[Bubble_Boy]

Really? So quick? But you haven't tried it yet. How do you know were not all lying to you so we can take your idea and market it. You know they always say not to trust people on the internet. You should attempt this theory of yours before giving up on it so quick.

... Don't forget the camera!

All I got to say to you is this -> :mooner:

 

[Bubble_Boy]

You still wouldn't suck it down against the water pressure on your chest.

Basically, you're talking about using your lungs to compress the air to 2.8atm.

It's time to review your physics...Scuba Diving Physics - The Gas Laws

Thank You Devon... NOW I give up with this dumb idea

 

[pjones]

No wait! what if we had 1 way flow chambers throughout the snorkel? that way pressure could be different at different levels and air couldn't go back up the tube!?

Ok lets think of it like this...

If you take a pop bottle down to depth but have a hose attached from the drinking spout on the bottle to the ocean surface you will notice that the bottle crushes as it goes deeper. The water pushes the air out of the bottle through the hose to atmosphere. The water is heavier than air so it pushes on the bottle with more and more weight as you go deeper.

You will notice the same effect when you put a rubber glove on your hand and dip your hand in water. The glove will have all the air pushed out of it and squeeze your hand.

The water is going to do the same thing to your lungs as you descend to depths. Your diaphragm is going to have to overcome the crushing forces of the water that is trying to collapse your lungs. If you went down to depth and tried to breath through the snorkel than it would feel like you're trying to breath against a vacuum and the air would get sucked out in a similar manor.

Adding a check valve to the tube will stop the air from getting sucked out but it will not give you the strength required to over come the weight of the water that is pushing against your chest in order to pull air into your lungs.

Breathing compressed gas through a regulator allows the gas to enter your lungs at a pressure equal to the weight of water that is pushing against you.

 

[pjones]

Well, would you look at that, the thread had already been resolved by the time I completed my post. I need to get side tracked less often...