"the science fiction of today is the reality of tomorrow"
I just watched the "special edition" version of "The Abyss" (BTW I highly recommend it), which goes a little deeper into the water people issue in the movie. The message of the original was pretty much about saturation diving, crisis, HPNS, and finally rescue by a race of water people (with a strong other-world-life-form implication). The new special edition shows the water folk as having been on the earth a long time, just deep, and in posession of quite impressive technologies. I love watching it, but then I'll watch anything that has to do with being under the surface.
Now - one thing shown there was "liquid breathing". Of course, we know that liquid breathers have a one-way trip with gills that allow them to filter gasses from the water, while gas breathers have a two-way trip with alveoli where gas exchange occurs across a mucous membrane. The chemical process in air-breathers is a simple diffusion of excess CO2, while O2 exchange is a little more complicated. pH controlling the affinity of binding sites in the hemoglobin molecule and all that. While we may find liquids that support requisite exchange properties for CO2 and O2, gas-breathers are just not built for the additional work required to move sufficient quantities of liquid.
Needless to say the method shown in the movie is impossible; immersion of one's entire head in the liquid and inhaling same would be far too dirty for our lungs to tolerate.
I've seen references to special circumstances where a closed loop liquid has been used successfully, with mechanical support. Premature babies, for example, do better because their lungs are under-developed. Also burn victims, and of course the numerous unlucky animals who fall victim to the various tests. I shudder to think of drowning poor furry creatures, but that's another issue.
As for liquid breathing, I am quite sure all that would be quite uncomfortable They say drowning is one of the more unpleasant ways to die. And the sensations would be pretty much identical. But having said all that - if, one day, this were possible, would that not be just the coolest thing to do?
I just watched the "special edition" version of "The Abyss" (BTW I highly recommend it), which goes a little deeper into the water people issue in the movie. The message of the original was pretty much about saturation diving, crisis, HPNS, and finally rescue by a race of water people (with a strong other-world-life-form implication). The new special edition shows the water folk as having been on the earth a long time, just deep, and in posession of quite impressive technologies. I love watching it, but then I'll watch anything that has to do with being under the surface.
Now - one thing shown there was "liquid breathing". Of course, we know that liquid breathers have a one-way trip with gills that allow them to filter gasses from the water, while gas breathers have a two-way trip with alveoli where gas exchange occurs across a mucous membrane. The chemical process in air-breathers is a simple diffusion of excess CO2, while O2 exchange is a little more complicated. pH controlling the affinity of binding sites in the hemoglobin molecule and all that. While we may find liquids that support requisite exchange properties for CO2 and O2, gas-breathers are just not built for the additional work required to move sufficient quantities of liquid.
Needless to say the method shown in the movie is impossible; immersion of one's entire head in the liquid and inhaling same would be far too dirty for our lungs to tolerate.
I've seen references to special circumstances where a closed loop liquid has been used successfully, with mechanical support. Premature babies, for example, do better because their lungs are under-developed. Also burn victims, and of course the numerous unlucky animals who fall victim to the various tests. I shudder to think of drowning poor furry creatures, but that's another issue.
As for liquid breathing, I am quite sure all that would be quite uncomfortable They say drowning is one of the more unpleasant ways to die. And the sensations would be pretty much identical. But having said all that - if, one day, this were possible, would that not be just the coolest thing to do?
