Vertical vs Horizontal Perception of Distance

[NW Dive Dawg]

For some reason it's just interesting to me that the relative horizontal vs vertical distance can be a bit of a mental conundrum.

For example, when I look at the recognized recreational dive limit of 130ft...... it seems deep when I think about it vertically it's kinda like being on the roof of a 13 story building and looking down at the sidewalk and saying....."Wow, that's a long way down". But when I look at at that same exact distance horizontally, its basically the same distance as a catchers throw down to 2nd base to pick off a base stealer........or an easy frisbee toss........ which does not really seem that far.

Not sure where I am going with this.........other than that it makes me feel better that an ESA from 100ft seems like it it is totally doable if the mindset is right.

 

[johndiver999]

A 100 ft ESA is simple! Just ask any of the people on this forum who have never done one. LOL

 

[Zef]

For some reason it's just interesting to me that the relative horizontal vs vertical distance can be a bit of a mental conundrum.

For example, when I look at the recognized recreational dive limit of 130ft...... it seems deep when I think about it vertically it's kinda like being on the roof of a 13 story building and looking down at the sidewalk and saying....."Wow, that's a long way down". But when I look at at that same exact distance horizontally, its basically the same distance as a catchers throw down to 2nd base to pick off a base stealer........or an easy frisbee toss........ which does not really seem that far.

Not sure where I am going with this.........other than that it makes me feel better that an ESA from 100ft seems like it it is totally doable if the mindset is right.

I have had a few convesations with my daughters about this very topic when they were in the process of getting certified. Both were competitive swimmers and were very familiar with the horizontal distances of 25 meters (@82ft) and 50 meters (@164ft) as the pools they trained and competed in were of those lengths, both spring distances...and they had a hard time wrapping there head around the fact that 130ft is considered deep.

The way I explained it, is that depth/height and "far" are not psychologically or physiologically equal....while standing on one end of 25 meter pool and looking to the other end is an unemotional event and an easy distance to cover, imagine standing on a dive platform 25 meters above a pool and looking down most folks would be scared out of their wits pyschologically. Physiologically, a fall from that height into the water, can cause disability/death depending on body position at impact with the surface of the water.

We had the luxury of living near Nemo33 where you can look down from the surface to the bottom at approximately 108feet and visually it seems like a long way to swim.

Phsyiologically speaking, the changes in pressure on the way down to/up from 130ft and its affect on the body are considerable despite the fact that recreational diving, (and most technical diving), is conducted in a very small fraction of the water column that exists on earth.

-Z

 

[Cthippo]

Humans are really a two dimensional species, not well equipped for functioning in a three dimensional world.

 

[lowwall]

Humans are really a two dimensional species, not well equipped for functioning in a three dimensional world.

Do you know the story of the invention of the jungle gym? The idea and and first realizations came from a mathematician who wanted children to be able to intuitively understand the world in three dimensions. His son remembered these structures and built a version in steel for his children's school in 1920. He was awarded a patent for the concept in 1923.

- https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1209...und-monkey-bars-maths-hinton-fourth-dimension
- https://www.therecordnorthshore.org...f-jungle-gym-began-100-years-ago-in-winnetka/

The original jungle gym is on the grounds of the Winnetka Historical Society. Unfortunately they stopped letting kids climb on it a few years ago.

 

[boulderjohn]

My wild guess is that the mind has some kind of a protective fear factor involved. Falling 130 feet would not be good for you, but you can't fall forward 130 feet, so no reason to fear it. People watch the Olympic divers going off the 10 meter board and don't think a thing of it. Put those same people on top of a 10 meter cliff and ask them to look down and then jump into the water below and most would be terrified.

 

[Waterwulf]

I've never done one from a hundred feet but in training, we were required to do one from sixty feet. That was the only time I have had to do one but I remember it was actually pretty easy. Later, I was doing some of the teaching and had to escort new dive students for their first four dives. Three times to a hundred feet plus and one sixty foot free ascent. I never had a student fail the free ascent.

 

[Jai Bar]

It is a similar phenomenon as the perception of the size of the moon, it looks much larger near the horizon than when it is high up.

Underwater, we also perceive differently the horizontal distance vs. vertical. In the horizontal we usually have objects that help us with perspectives, whereas looking towards the surface it is more difficult to judgs the distance, unless there are objects nearby such as boats, swimmers etc.

 

[dmaziuk]

My wild guess is that the mind has some kind of a protective fear factor involved. Falling 130 feet would not be good for you, but you can't fall forward 130 feet, so no reason to fear it. People watch the Olympic divers going off the 10 meter board and don't think a thing of it. Put those same people on top of a 10 meter cliff and ask them to look down and then jump into the water below and most would be terrified.

BTDT, the well is the size of a postage stamp from up there and you have to aim very carefully to not miss it. Of course we were maybe 10 at the time and not supposed to get up there in the first place, so it was all very exciting.

 

[boulderjohn]

BTDT, the well is the size of a postage stamp from up there and you have to aim very carefully to not miss it. Of course we were maybe 10 at the time and not supposed to get up there in the first place, so it was all very exciting.

You may have assumed that I mistyped when I wrote about the 10 meter board. I didn't. I was talking about only 10 meters. The overwhelming majority of swimmers have never jumped into the water from 10 meters, let alone dived, and they have no idea how much their butts would pucker if they looked down to the water from that height.