Observing marine life isn’t hard, why not just snorkel?
Snorkeling is a perfectly convenient means to see below the surface into shallow depths, but the short length of snorkel tubes (usually capped at 35cm) prevents the user from going any deeper than surface-level to truly interact with the environment. As such, snorkelers will have trouble seeing things if the water is slightly murky, and also cannot retrieve or touch objects below the surface without having to hold their breath. Our product aims to allow the user to have some diving capabilities, while being able to breathe normally, while still being reasonably portable, easy-to-use and accessible to all.
What about SCUBA diving then?
While SCUBA is the preferred method of diving to deep waters for prolonged periods of time, it is far from accessible, affordable or convenient for the regular consumer. SCUBA diving licenses cost customers hundreds of dollars, and even then, equipment often has to be rented per use at specific locations, and is a hassle to put on and use. Oxygen cylinders have to be filled and carried, along with a multitude of regulators which must be calibrated by trained personnel before use. Hardly something we can just do on a whim.
While SCUBA is administratively and practically inconvenient for regular folks, it is this way has it uses sophisticated equipment capable of diving up to 40 meters. Our product will not need to reach such depths, as the intertidal zones, where biodiversity is high, are often within the first few meters. In addition, going deeper than this would affect visibility as less light reaches deeper waters. Therefore, our product will keep diving capabilities limited to a few meters, but in exchange, offer much more usability and practicality, such that it can be almost as cheap and easy to use as a snorkel, but achieve the desired effects of SCUBA.
Possible uses for the Shallow-dive Air Supply System
With the ability to dive a couple of meters hands-free while being able to breathe normally, several uses for this product include:
- Marine environmental research, such as diversity surveys/coral health studies.
- Boat or swimming pool repairs
- Retrieval of objects in shallow waters/’treasure hunting’
- Recreation/sightseeing of marine life
Why don’t you see very long snorkels everywhere?
As you know, water pressure increases with depth, at a descent pace of 1 bar every 10 meters. The deeper you go, the higher the pressure acting on your chest. This makes it increasingly laborious to exert the necessary force from the muscles around your lungs to expand them and push your chest outwards to take in air. A typical human will purportedly lack the strength to be able to breath through a snorkel at a depth on 1m.
I heard about decompression sickness. Will it affect my dive with this product?
In accordance with Henry’s Law, solubility of gasses increases with pressure, which increases with depth when diving. When the diver ascends, solubility of gasses dissolved in tissues decreases accordingly, and may be forced out of the tissues, forming air bubbles, blocking capillaries, and distorting tissues.
However, this often comes up when divers go >20m under the surface, as we are merely diving in a measly range of 3m of depth, this should not be an issue, as the decompression when ascending may not be drastic enough to herald any significant consequences. For those that remain unconvinced, fret not, there exists a precautionary measure you can take to ease your paranoia. It is to ascend slowly when surfacing, making sure to constantly breath in and out so excess dissolved gasses are carried away by blood and released into the lungs.
Wait, we inhale the same airflow of a more pressurized air when diving deeper? Doesn’t that mean we consume a higher amount of oxygen?
It’s not that we need more air specifically, but we need to breathe in the same volume to allow gas exchange in our lungs to take place.
Because our bodies are under pressure, every breath to fill our lungs will be denser than we breathe in at the surface. So there will be more oxygen molecules inside every breath.
For this reason, it’s common to think that we could accordingly take fewer breaths per minute. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for two reasons.
Firstly, our blood is already carrying as much oxygen as it can (called saturated) when we’re breathing at normal atmospheric pressures. Just because more oxygen is available by the increased density, it doesn’t mean that our bodies can take it in.
Secondly, our breathing reflex is mainly controlled by the build-up of carbon dioxide in our blood.
As carbon dioxide is still present, our bodies will breathe at a similar rate as they would at the surface. So we don’t need more air, but we need to breathe in at the same volume, which means we will use more of our total supply the deeper we are.
Why Do Scuba Divers Use More Air at Depth? (+4 Practical Tips) (watersportgeek.com)