June 04, 2004
Anti-natural selection news
The guy in
this story made a strong big to make the list of this years Darwin awards. Excerpt:
The Missouri State Water Patrol said he used the hose to snorkel 30-feet below the surface, with a 20-pound boat anchor tied to his waist to help him reach the bottom.
Quick bit of information for those of you tempted to try a simliar stunt. You lungs hold a limited amount of air. A 30-foot section of garden hose probably holds air more than your lungs do. What does that mean? It means you're likely pass out from the excess CO2 in your lungs before drowning. So don't. Just think of this as a public service announcement.
Posted by: Physics Geek at
08:25 PM
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1
Interesting point. I'd never considered that before.
Fortunately, I also never considered snorkeling with a 30-foot hose, either.
Posted by: Harvey at June 05, 2004 06:42 PM (ubhj8)
2
Thirty feet of half-inch diameter garden hose will hold about 1.15 liters. The capacity of the lungs is about 6 liters, so a reasonably small diameter hose shouldn't be too much of a problem. (Double the diameter of the hose, of course, and quadruple the volume, for the same length. A one-inch hose will hold over 4.5 liters -- breathe very deeply.)
A more -- er -- pressing problem is that a one-foot column of water exerts of just about 7/16 of a pound per square inch, or about 1/34 of atmospheric pressure. Long before you reach a depth of 30 feet, you'll have lots of trouble pushing your chest wall out against the pressure of the surrounding water.
There's a reason why divers breathe air under pressure.
...........Karl
Posted by: Karl Lembke at June 07, 2004 06:00 AM (1emxt)
3
Good point about the lung pressure Karl. Being a diver myself, I feel a little sheepish about ignoring that point.
Posted by: physics geek at June 07, 2004 01:23 PM (Xvrs7)
4
I'm a physicist by training, a geek by inclination, and I work for the water department where I've acquired a profound respect for the amount of force water can exert against something if you let it.
...........Karl
Posted by: Karl Lembke at June 08, 2004 03:32 AM (aVkjY)
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