if you are sitting inside a diving bell or moon pool deep in the ocean, what happens when you dip you feet in the water that is under high pressure? Would the pressure crush your feet right when you step your feet in?

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if you are sitting inside a diving bell or moon pool deep in the ocean, what happens when you dip you feet in the water that is under high pressure? Would the pressure crush your feet right when you step your feet in?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

In the actual bell/moon pool room, the pressure will be equal, with all the problems that come with it as others have explained.

Some bigger setups have separate compartments that can be at a different pressure, but these have to be separated from the water with a pressure tight door.

If you open these doors without slowly equalizing the pressure first, you get the infamous Byford Dolphin incident. Quotes (NSFL):

>!Medical investigations were carried out on the remains of the four divers and of one of the tenders. The most notable finding was the presence of large amounts of fat in large arteries and veins and in the cardiac chambers, as well as intravascular fat in organs, especially the liver. … The autopsy suggested that rapid bubble formation in the blood denatured the lipoprotein complexes, rendering the lipids insoluble. The blood of the three divers left intact inside the chambers likely boiled instantly, stopping their circulation. The fourth diver was dismembered and mutilated by the blast forcing him out through the partially blocked doorway and would have died instantly.!<

>!… forced through the crescent-shaped opening measuring 60 centimetres (24 in) long created by the jammed interior trunk door. With the escaping air and pressure, it included bisection of his thoracoabdominal cavity, which resulted in fragmentation of his body, followed by expulsion of all of the internal organs of his chest and abdomen, except the trachea and a section of small intestine, and of the thoracic spine. These were projected some distance, one section being found 10 metres (30 ft) vertically above the exterior pressure door.!<

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