When we travel by airplane, the pressure changes. What does that mean exactly? Why does it make my ears hurt?
Equally, deep sea diving and submersibles. Ive read that the glass has to be massively reinforced to stand the pressure. Is the change in pressure the same type for air and sea? I.e does pressure increase for both?
Edit; Everyone did great! I understand now! The answer is “Water be heavy” and “Air be heavy. Less air above you when you fly so less pressure”
In: 13
#ELI5
Put on your pants, and then **put a belt on**.
Now make the belt **REAL TIGHT**.
It’s kind of uncomfortable, right? I mean, your guts are compressed. You’re not accustomed to that level of tightness. Your gut isn’t accustomed to that kind of tightness.
Now loosen the belt a little, and notice that your gut kind of expands. The loosened belt *allows* your gut to expand.
The air is really kind of like a belt! You don’t notice it walking around, because “the belt” is not too tight, not too loose. It feels “just right” because THIS is the level of tightness you’re accustomed to.
The “tightness of the belt” is the same as the “pressure of the air”.
When you go way high up in the sky, there’s less and less air pressure. Why? I’ll let someone else explain that. Just accept that there is less air pressure … the “belt” is becoming looser!
So your body is accustomed to a “tighter belt” at ground level, and it’s not accustomed to a “looser belt” at high altitudes.
When you loosened your belt around your waist, your gut expanded. When you “loosen the belt” of air pressure by going high up in the sky … other parts of your body “expand”.
It turns out that your eardrums, which are tiny membranes, are accustomed to the air pressure at ground level. That’s where they’re most comfortable.
But reduce air pressure, by going up high … and now your eardrums “expand” just like your gut would when you loosen your belt.
And because you’re not accustomed to this, it may hurt a little bit.
THAT is why you hear of “pressurizing the cabin” in an airplane. The air up there is at lower pressure than you’re used to. But the plane is a sealed container, and they increase the air pressure inside the plane with fans and pumps and such. It’s like putting you inside a massive bicycle tire and pumping up the tire with a pump.
Why do they do this on airplanes? Because it increases the air pressure to a level you’re comfortable at.
Sometimes it’s not immediate … and the air pressure you feel isn’t right at that sweet-spot you’re comfortable at. And so again, you feel a pressure difference, and your ears feel it too.
DEEP SEA DIVING is the same principle, but not air pressure. Instead, we’re talking about water pressure.
We discussed how air pressure is less as you go up. So air pressure is more as you go down. WATER pressure is the same way. Water pressure is less at the surface, and water pressure is HIGHER as you go down.
And so, yes, a submarine that is able to withstand the water pressure at 5 meters of depth, must be reinforced to withstand the water pressure at 500 meters of depth.
Imagine tightening your belt around your waist so much, that you actually hurt yourself. Maybe your colon ruptures, because of the great pressure from the belt.
If you send a submarine down so far, to the point where it can’t withstand the pressure anymore, then the “belt” of water will crush the submarine (because of higher pressure), just like your belt around your waist will crush your internal organs.
**PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE** …. This is ELI5. This is not 100% accurate, by far, but it paints a good enough picture to get the basics across.
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