Hi! I’m writing some body horror fiction, and am trying to figure out what happens to the human body when exposed to tremendous pressure, equivalent to being 1.6 kilometers underwater. I can find some dry descriptions, but nothing quite as detailed as I require. Help?
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Unless there is a very rapid change of pressure nothing visible happens.
For a rapid change of pressure read up on the Byford Dolphin accident…..
When breathing normal air, oxygen and nitrogen becomes toxic at higher pressures.
There is something referred to as partial pressure, it basically means that normal air at normal pressure is roughly 21 percent oxygen and 78 percent nitrogen. Thus the partial pressure of oxygen is 0.21 atmospheres. If you double the pressure as you go 10 meters below the water the partial pressure of oxygen goes up to 0.42 atmospheres, and ther eis a point where the nitrogen and oxygen reaches partial pressures where they become harmful.
That is why divers who go very deep need special mixes of gas with a low percentage of oxygen and nitrogen, with other gasses like helium mixed in.
I dont know the exact depth or mixes, but I am sure someone more knowledgeable than me will provide some more information on that.
For very deep dives, Google “Comex record” as far as I remember that have set som crazy records for living and working in the deep oceans.
With regards to the horror part, nitrogen psychosis is a real thing and cave diving and some of the accidents that have happened when cave diving is truly horrific, but that relates more to the isolation and darkness than to extreme depths.
I read a story about a guy who got lost cave diving and when they found his body he had Ben trapped there for multiple weeks and died of either first or exposure. Is absolute darkness.
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