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5 Responses to “when you go scuba diving and come out with out going into a decompression chamber what happens ?”
Those depths and times are only for professional divers and they would know that decompression is necessary. An amateur diver would never spend that much time at that depth and would never have need of a decompression chamber.
In general, an amateur has no business going below 100 feet and in order to become a certified diver you do have to pass a course which includes information about dive tables (depths/times).
I will tell you that I have been to 160 feet, but I was part of a rescue/recovery squad, I taught diving, and I dove with some very special people including someone who was on the Andria Doria expedition years ago.
While the 70 meters for 7 hours might be a little unrealistic. Here is what commercial and military divers will do.
Let’s say the diver goes to some depth for some amount of time. While at depth, the diver’s body is taking on nitrogen. The body does nothing with the nitrogen from the breathing gas (unlike oxygen which is used), so the body stores it in tissues. Because of the increased pressure on the body caused by the water, the tissues store this excess nitrogen.
Once the diver starts to come up (ie the pressure on the body becomes less), the nitrogen will need start leaving the tissues. If you come up slow enough, the nitrogen goes from the tissues to the bloodstream to the lungs and is exhaled. If you come up too fast, the nitrogen is forms larger bubbles and can get in the bloodstream and cause blockages.
These types of divers to help get rid of the nitrogen will need to complete decompression stops. This means coming up to a calculated depth, hanging out there for a calculated time, and letting you body expel some of the nitrogen. These decompression stops are based on how deep and how long the diver was underwater. It could take hours and hours to complete the decompression.
Being underwater for hours and hours may not be feasible for the diver to complete the decompression stops successfully. Instead the diver will come on up and immediately go into a decompression chamber. The chamber will simulate doing the decompression stops.
A successful decompression means you will be in the chamber for a while getting the excess nitrogen safely out of your body. I have never been in a chamber, but the chambers on ships are small and might be better described as a tube with enough room for someone to lay down. You can breathe normally in the chamber, but it might just be a little cramped.
Short answer: if the diver in the scenario you describe did no decompression at all, the diver would be dead before they got to the surface. And it would be a most gruesome death to boot. Absorbed nitrogen would bubble and foam in the body cavities, and blood would clot and turn to mud.
A description of this death can be found if you research how Chris and Chrissy Rouse died on the U-Who.
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Christina Grossman
Those depths and times are only for professional divers and they would know that decompression is necessary. An amateur diver would never spend that much time at that depth and would never have need of a decompression chamber.
In general, an amateur has no business going below 100 feet and in order to become a certified diver you do have to pass a course which includes information about dive tables (depths/times).
I will tell you that I have been to 160 feet, but I was part of a rescue/recovery squad, I taught diving, and I dove with some very special people including someone who was on the Andria Doria expedition years ago.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Todd Wingate
Its more like a stroke. As the nitrogen in your blood begins to form bubbles it will plug up the arteries in your brain and stop the flow of blood.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Mattie Klotz
It’s like putting 100 lbs of pressure in a 30 pound tire.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:54 am
John Mcguire
While the 70 meters for 7 hours might be a little unrealistic. Here is what commercial and military divers will do.
Let’s say the diver goes to some depth for some amount of time. While at depth, the diver’s body is taking on nitrogen. The body does nothing with the nitrogen from the breathing gas (unlike oxygen which is used), so the body stores it in tissues. Because of the increased pressure on the body caused by the water, the tissues store this excess nitrogen.
Once the diver starts to come up (ie the pressure on the body becomes less), the nitrogen will need start leaving the tissues. If you come up slow enough, the nitrogen goes from the tissues to the bloodstream to the lungs and is exhaled. If you come up too fast, the nitrogen is forms larger bubbles and can get in the bloodstream and cause blockages.
These types of divers to help get rid of the nitrogen will need to complete decompression stops. This means coming up to a calculated depth, hanging out there for a calculated time, and letting you body expel some of the nitrogen. These decompression stops are based on how deep and how long the diver was underwater. It could take hours and hours to complete the decompression.
Being underwater for hours and hours may not be feasible for the diver to complete the decompression stops successfully. Instead the diver will come on up and immediately go into a decompression chamber. The chamber will simulate doing the decompression stops.
A successful decompression means you will be in the chamber for a while getting the excess nitrogen safely out of your body. I have never been in a chamber, but the chambers on ships are small and might be better described as a tube with enough room for someone to lay down. You can breathe normally in the chamber, but it might just be a little cramped.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Miriam Uhl
Short answer: if the diver in the scenario you describe did no decompression at all, the diver would be dead before they got to the surface. And it would be a most gruesome death to boot. Absorbed nitrogen would bubble and foam in the body cavities, and blood would clot and turn to mud.
A description of this death can be found if you research how Chris and Chrissy Rouse died on the U-Who.