ELi5: What causes decompression sickness, and is there such a thing as compression sickness?
In: 41
When you get underwater you are compressed. Every ten meters (~30 feet I think) pressure increased by one atm. Volume of the air you breathe does not change but its density changes since it is compressed by increasing pressure. In 10 meters amount of the o2 you will inhale will double by this math. In every ~2 meters (~6 feet) you also have to equalize the inner pressure of your body with outer pressure otherwise your ears will hurt like hell.
Now as pressure increase some nitrogen break free since they are now turning liquid instead of gas, and leak into the other parts of your body.
While getting out of pressure you have to be slow and careful otherwise these liquid nitrogen cannot get back to its rightful place fast enough and turns into gas wherever it is at that point, be it in your joints, muscle, brain… you don’t want bubbles in your brain, right?
I got my open water diver certificate two decades ago, that’s how they told me about it
Latest Answers