Liquid Breathing Mixture

[kaerius]

With saturation diving, the deepest anyone has gone is 701m. Using scuba equipment the record is 318m, set by the South African diver Nuno Gomes in June 2005. It took him 14 minutes to descend and 12 hours to come back up to the surface.

I think the scuba record is out of date(as in 328m has now been done, IIRC, same guy I think), I knew about the 701m saturation dive funnily enough, done with hydra 10(a hydrogen, helium, oxygen mix) by comex, in an experimental dive.

I've read about this, and my main thought was: No bends? Ok, but what about CNS? How do they manage partial pressures of oxygen with liquid?

 

[Peter_C]

The CO2 that would normally exit our body when we breathe out would be “scrubbed” from our blood by attaching a mechanical gill to the femoral vein in the leg.

Imagine a major leak from the hose back into a vein? One would be stuck at hundreds of meters underwater with a bloody suit, no help and about to pass out.

 

[Marcodivers]

OK perhaps I'm ignorant on the process but we teach that gases desolve in the bodies tissues at depth that causes the concern for DCS. How does breathing liquid solve this problem. It may in some way allow for a faster off gas from the lungs. However, the gases are still saturating the tissue compartments! How does this compenate for the partial pressure grouping?

Also being around military diving there is an old story that this caused emphysemia in divers during test at depth and it was scraped by the pentagon.

 

[prophet98g]

OK perhaps I'm ignorant on the process but we teach that gases desolve in the bodies tissues at depth that causes the concern for DCS. How does breathing liquid solve this problem. It may in some way allow for a faster off gas from the lungs. However, the gases are still saturating the tissue compartments! How does this compenate for the partial pressure grouping?

Also being around military diving there is an old story that this caused emphysemia in divers during test at depth and it was scraped by the pentagon.

The main difference is that as a liquid the PFC will not be compressible. You would not have the large partial pressures of gasses causing greater gas absorption in your tissues. Besides the problem of removing CO2 from the diver's bloodstream and the difficulties of clearing the lungs of PFC when he surfaces you also have to deal with the increased work of breathing. If we have problems with the increased work of breathing gas at high pressures where it is more dense just imagine the difficulty of ventilating something closer to the density of water.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

How about the concept of adapting to seeing underwater without a mask?

 

[SurDo2]

Where do I sign up?

 

[brianthediver]

on the topic, whtever about the ability of the body to 'breathe' liquid, what would happen to the other air spaces in the body, syuch as ears and sinuses? If you're not breathing a gas can you equalise?

 

[Searcaigh]

on the topic, whtever about the ability of the body to 'breathe' liquid, what would happen to the other air spaces in the body, syuch as ears and sinuses? If you're not breathing a gas can you equalise?

AFAIK liquid would fill these spaces and would be at ambient pressure so no need to equalise

 

[underwaterfrank]

Hmmm, some years I ago i drowned (nearly drowned is probably the correct term but I was stuck underwater until I started to drown and blacked-out). How do you comfortably make a transition from breathing air to breathing liquid? The scene in the Abbyss with the mouse is real, but you can see how the little animal is gasping and coughing as it makes the transition.
I clearly remember every gasp and cough from when i drowned. It wasn't easy and even though your lungs scream for air, you can't actually inhale liquid voluntarily. All you body reflexes stop you from taking that first gasp until your lungs are actually convulsing from the excess CO2 build-up. Once I took that first gasp, some water shot into my lungs but immediately after my throat locked-up and I coughed but every time I gasped for more it felt like there was a blockage in my airway chocking me. It was not until I was maybe 10-15 seconds from blacking-out that I managed to suck some water into my lungs. Strangely that felt great and it immediately relieved most of my desire for air, but after 3 small and labourous breaths I lost consciousness.
maybe if the liquid is at body temperature it would be more comfortable but still pretty much a drowning experience i would thnk.
I doubt that oxygenated liquid would have kept me conscious after I finally started inhaling liquid. Inhaling water really took a lot of effort, kind of like trying to breather through a drinking straw.

Also, breathing liquids are actually used for babies with lung deficiencies, so it is definitely no science fiction. Obviously it can work under certain conditions, but I think with a fully conscious adult person it would be more torture than pleasure.
Not sure what the Navy divers did, but maybe you need a treatment to relax the larynx first so there is no spasm from inhaling that first amount of liquid?

Would be keen to learn more. Does anyone have any references to actual Navy research studies on this?