I dont know about this, just reposting as i thought it was interesting :11:
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/m...1&messid=245297&STARTPAGE=1&parentid=0&from=1
Last week I was on a seminar by a PhD, prof. dr. and all that of hyperbaric fiziology (sp?) Dean Horvat who was (perhaps still is) employed by the US Navy (and is almost my neighbour
He was (is) working on development of liquid breathing technology (remember the movie Abbys?) and SEAL training
anyway he told us a couple of things about it and since he personaly tried it (not underwater though) I tend to believe him.
He said that the theoretical limit of such diving is around 3500m +- a couple hundred) but numerous dives have been to 1200m+...... not much more
what do SEALs do down there? apparently they dig a hole, cover themselves up to their necks wtih mud and wait for submarines for a number of days then when it goes by....military secrets...
so how can you breathe liquid you ask?
it`s a liquid that has a high level of oxigen in it and acts similar to blood. It can substitute oxigen for carbon dioxide very easily.
It also contains "food", antiseptics (for neutralising urin etc.), stuff that pervents maceration (I guess that is the term for it)...in simple words... it prevents your skin from softening (think hot bath and wrinkles)
there is enough oxigen in it to last about 14 days but dives usually last 5-6 days...suposedly if you went out to buy the ingredients for this liquid you would pay about 500 per dive
the suit is very much like a regular dry suit (not like those space things) so they have lots of comfort...there is also a heater and a pump that keeps it all flowing inside
There are two closed "circuits" of fluid, one suplying the head and one for the rest of the body
it takes 2 years to train one diver at a cost of 1.000.000 in US $ ... three years back they had 12 trained divers
since waiting 1200m down for days without moving has certain psychological effects there is a "slightly" higher rate of suicides and all of them are single or divorced
anecdote... during training two divers dissapeared without trace...suspected troublemakers -> giant squids and some whales (don`t know their english names)
but how is it possible to breathe liquid?
He told us what he experienced when he tried it on land
basically you get flooded with it and for as long as you can you hold your breath (natural reflex) then eventualy you "drown" and start breathing it
interesting thing is that after a while your skin gets so soft that gasses can partialy exchange and you start breathing like some lizzard - through your entire body!!
when he got drained and squeezed like some sponge he said that for the first time in his life he discovered that air has TASTE!! not just funny scents of someone farting
How is it possible to experience 120+bar of pressure?
you get flooded completely so there are no air pockets and since liquid doesn`t compress there are no problems (your body is 70% water and some tissue that doesn`t compress much either)
what`s the point of going so deep?
robots and such thing make "a lot" of noise and emmit all sorts of things, these divers are silent and their sonar image doesn`t look like something much to the sub (they`re covered with mud or something anyway) so they can`t be detected and they can do their job without many problems
apparently during the gulf war this technology has been tested in action as they say....they mined some Iraqi ships in a harbour without anyone noticing untill those things went up in smoke and sank....while they were already back in base having a beer
I must say this was my fav part of the seminar.... up till now I thought the max depth was 700m by some french guys in lab testing (huge baro chamber) and they had about 3months of deco time
this thing doesn`t require deco.... imagine going on a diving holiday... you take a can of this liquid, stay submerged for 14 days, get out and drained, take a shower and go home.... you save a bunch of money on accomodation, food & drinks and most importantly... if you take a wife (or even mother in law) along you don`t have to listen to them the entire vacation
sounds like sci-fi doesn`t it? Can`t wait till this thing gets comercial
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/m...1&messid=245297&STARTPAGE=1&parentid=0&from=1
Last week I was on a seminar by a PhD, prof. dr. and all that of hyperbaric fiziology (sp?) Dean Horvat who was (perhaps still is) employed by the US Navy (and is almost my neighbour
He was (is) working on development of liquid breathing technology (remember the movie Abbys?) and SEAL training
anyway he told us a couple of things about it and since he personaly tried it (not underwater though) I tend to believe him.
He said that the theoretical limit of such diving is around 3500m +- a couple hundred) but numerous dives have been to 1200m+...... not much more
what do SEALs do down there? apparently they dig a hole, cover themselves up to their necks wtih mud and wait for submarines for a number of days then when it goes by....military secrets...
so how can you breathe liquid you ask?
it`s a liquid that has a high level of oxigen in it and acts similar to blood. It can substitute oxigen for carbon dioxide very easily.
It also contains "food", antiseptics (for neutralising urin etc.), stuff that pervents maceration (I guess that is the term for it)...in simple words... it prevents your skin from softening (think hot bath and wrinkles)
there is enough oxigen in it to last about 14 days but dives usually last 5-6 days...suposedly if you went out to buy the ingredients for this liquid you would pay about 500 per dive
the suit is very much like a regular dry suit (not like those space things) so they have lots of comfort...there is also a heater and a pump that keeps it all flowing inside
There are two closed "circuits" of fluid, one suplying the head and one for the rest of the body
it takes 2 years to train one diver at a cost of 1.000.000 in US $ ... three years back they had 12 trained divers
since waiting 1200m down for days without moving has certain psychological effects there is a "slightly" higher rate of suicides and all of them are single or divorced
anecdote... during training two divers dissapeared without trace...suspected troublemakers -> giant squids and some whales (don`t know their english names)
but how is it possible to breathe liquid?
He told us what he experienced when he tried it on land
basically you get flooded with it and for as long as you can you hold your breath (natural reflex) then eventualy you "drown" and start breathing it
interesting thing is that after a while your skin gets so soft that gasses can partialy exchange and you start breathing like some lizzard - through your entire body!!
when he got drained and squeezed like some sponge he said that for the first time in his life he discovered that air has TASTE!! not just funny scents of someone farting
How is it possible to experience 120+bar of pressure?
you get flooded completely so there are no air pockets and since liquid doesn`t compress there are no problems (your body is 70% water and some tissue that doesn`t compress much either)
what`s the point of going so deep?
robots and such thing make "a lot" of noise and emmit all sorts of things, these divers are silent and their sonar image doesn`t look like something much to the sub (they`re covered with mud or something anyway) so they can`t be detected and they can do their job without many problems
apparently during the gulf war this technology has been tested in action as they say....they mined some Iraqi ships in a harbour without anyone noticing untill those things went up in smoke and sank....while they were already back in base having a beer
I must say this was my fav part of the seminar.... up till now I thought the max depth was 700m by some french guys in lab testing (huge baro chamber) and they had about 3months of deco time
this thing doesn`t require deco.... imagine going on a diving holiday... you take a can of this liquid, stay submerged for 14 days, get out and drained, take a shower and go home.... you save a bunch of money on accomodation, food & drinks and most importantly... if you take a wife (or even mother in law) along you don`t have to listen to them the entire vacation
sounds like sci-fi doesn`t it? Can`t wait till this thing gets comercial
