ELI5- Why is it dangerous for a scuba diver to ascend too quickly?
In: 19
After breathing pressurized air (at depth) there are 2 major problems.
1: For anyone, you can’t hold your breath while ascending because your lungs will pop as the air expands (there’s less pressure at the surface than underwater). So go slowly enough to breathe out thoroughly.
2: For some few highly-qualified divers, who go deep & long, they might need to make stops at certain depths and hang there just breathing to let the excess nitrogen come out of the blood & be breathed away. Not doing this can cause nitrogen bubbles in… let’s say “inconvenient places”… Inside a blood vessel, so blood can’t pass. Inside a joint. Inside the spine (nerve bundle). It’s painful & damaging.
Latest Answers