

How to Breathe Water...and Not Die? - sbmws
http://sbms.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-breathe-waterand-not-die.html

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nowarninglabel
I kept thinking this reminded me of something...the scene water-breathing
scene from the Abyss. The scene with the rat is real:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NmU7VKd3VA>

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sbmws
It's awesome how science developments follow their creation in science
fiction. Remember Star Trek and their communicators? We have cellphones that
surpass those by leaps and bounds...talk about progress.

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toast76
Although a cell phone probably won't do you much good on say...Nimbus III.

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sbmws
I feel the conversation should end hear, otherwise we'd soon start discussing
Star Wars too...and then it would simply never end.

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storborg
There are a lot of issues that would have to be resolved before diving with a
liquid breathing solution would be practical. (Okay, it will never be
practical, but maybe it could at least not kill you.)

* Liquid breathing solutions have to be really, really sterile. You're introducing a liquid past all your defensive mechanisms, and typical immune responses (coughing or sneezing) won't do anything. As a result, immune response/inflammation can be quite severe. This would be hard to maintain in a marine environment.

* Even with a liquid breathing solution, high pressure can still have health impacts. I don't think this has ever been tested (at least not in an unclassified setting), but HPNS (High Pressure Nervous Syndrome) would probably still be a major issue at depths beyond 800-1000 feet.

* It's my understanding that total liquid breathing (as opposed to partial liquid breathing, where only one lung is filled or both lungs are partially filled) will cause a lot of damage to the lung surfactant layer. I'm not sure if this is still the case--human tests with total liquid breathing are very rare.

There's lot more information about medical applications in this paper, written
by Thomas Shaffer (mentioned in the article):
[http://pedsinreview.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/20/...](http://pedsinreview.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/20/12/e134)

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die_sekte
HPNS is a problem beyond 500 feet when using conventional gas mixtures
(Nitrox, Heliox, ...); however, there have been simulated dives to 3500 feet
on Hydrox (Hydrogen/Oxygen), which seems to prevent HPNS (I can't seem to find
anything more specific about the cognitive abilities at 3500 feet). Hydrox
isn't used often.

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storborg
Diving with nitrox (nitrogen/oxygen) beyond 500 feet is very rarely done, and
HPNS isn't really an issue because the overwhelming narcotic effect of the
nitrogen would be devastating (think 20 tequila shots in a row). HPNS seems to
be caused by rapid changes in the partial pressure of helium, so it can be
alleviated somewhat by using less helium and replacing it with nitrogen.

COMEX (a French commercial diving company) has done successful working dives
to beyond 1,700 feet on hydroheliox, a mixture of 49% hydrogen, 50% helium,
and 1% oxygen. However, there are major practical issues with breathing a
hydrogen mixture--namely, if you have hydrogen and oxygen together at high
pressure with more than a tiny fraction of oxygen, it will explode. This makes
it only practical to use a hydrogen mixture at a depth great enough where 1%
oxygen is a high enough partial pressure to sustain consciousness.

Also, hydrogen at high partial pressures is said to have a narcotic effect
similar to LSD, but permanent.

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JeremyBanks
The title's a bit misleading, it's not actually water that you'd be breathing.

 _Water normally doesn't have enough dissolved oxygen_

 _The new suit allows its wearer to breathe a specialized liquid chock-full of
oxygen molecules; called a PFC or perfluorocarbon, the liquid can store large
amounts of dissolved oxygen._

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die_sekte
_How to breathe water which isn't actually water ... and not die_

I imagine this will be an extremely unpleasant experience. Humans don't like
having any kind of fluid in their lungs. Safer deep diving is exciting.

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vilhelm_s
Original source: [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/into-the-abyss-
the...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/into-the-abyss-the-diving-
suit-that-turns-men-into-fish-2139167.html)

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sbmws
Thanks, I've updated the link.

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davidedicillo
If you have read The Lost Symbol it will sound terribly familiar :)

