The Physics

of
Diving
Seastar
Diving
college
PHYSICS-1
Overview
 Light , Heat & Sound
 Pressure, Volume & Density
 Buoyancy calculations
 Partial pressures
 Pressure, volume and temperature
 Absorption of gases
PHYSICS-2
Heat underwater
 How much faster do you lose heat
underwater than on land ?
 20 times faster

 By which 3 methods do we lose heat in the

water?
 Conduction the most effective way
 Convection
 Radiation the least effective way
PHYSICS-3
Light Underwater
 What causes light to
bend when it passes
through water?

 Refraction
 Makes objects appear
25% larger
 Makes objects appear
closer by a ratio of 4:3
PHYSICS-4
Light Underwater
 Water absorbs light, the deeper or more
turbid the water the more light it
absorbs.
 The red end of the spectrum disappears
first.

 In conditions of turbidity a phenomena

known as visual reversal may occur.
 This is when objects are perceived as being
further away than they actually are.
PHYSICS-5
 Sound Underwater
 How much faster does
sound travel underwater
than on land?
 4 times faster. Because
the medium is denser.

PHYSICS-6
 Because the sound
reaches your ears at
practically the same
time,
it is difficult to
determine direction
underwater.

PHYSICS-7
Pressure underwater
 Gauge pressure = Water pressure only
 Absolute or ambient pressure = water
pressure plus atmospheric pressure.
 At sea level, atmospheric pressure
is 1 bar
 In sea (salt) water the pressure
increases 1 bar every 10m
 In fresh water the pressure increases
by 1 bar every 10.3m
PHYSICS-8
Sample problems
 What is the absolute pressure in 36m of
seawater?
 Answer: 4.6 bar
 What is the gauge pressure in 23m of fresh
water?
 Answer: 2.23 bar

 What is the gauge pressure in 45m of

seawater?
 Answer: 4.5 bar
PHYSICS-9
Sample problems
 What is the absolute pressure in 30m of
fresh water?
 Answer: 3.91 bar
 What is the gauge pressure in 14m of sea
water?
 Answer: 1.4 bar
 What is the absolute pressure in 53m of
sea water?
 Answer: 6.3 bar
PHYSICS-10
Sample problems
 What is the absolute pressure in 16m of
fresh water?
 Answer: 2.55 bar
 What is the gauge pressure in 43m of
fresh water?
 Answer: 4.17 bar
 What is the ambient pressure in 34m of
sea water?
 Answer: 4.4 bar
PHYSICS-11
 Always use absolute
pressure for
calculations
involving volume,
density and partial
pressures
PHYSICS-12
Calculating volume
 Flexible container = balloon
 Inflexible container = scuba tank
volume doesn’t change

 Take to the surface first and take back

down again during calculations
 Make sure you calculate using fresh or
seawater as indicated in the question.

PHYSICS-13
Sample problems
 A balloon containing 6 liters of air is
released from 30m in the sea, proving it
doesn’t burst what will it’s volume be
upon reaching the surface?
 Answer: 24 liters
 A flexible container with a volume of 7
liters is taken from the surface to 25m of
sea water, what would then be it’s
volume?
 Answer: 2 liters
PHYSICS-14
Sample problems
 A balloon has a volume of 15 liters at
12m of sea water it is then taken to
34m, what would it’s new volume be?
 Answer: 7.5 liters
 A flexible container has a volume of 3
liters at 45m of sea water, what would
it’s new volume be if it was taken up to
14m?
 Answer: 6.875 liters
PHYSICS-15
Sample problems
 A balloon has a volume of 12 liters in
22m of fresh water, what would it’s
volume be after it is taken up to 3m?
 Answer: 29.17 liters
 A scuba tank contains 2250 liters of air
at the surface, how much air will it
contain in 30m of sea water?
 Answer: 2250 liters (this is an inflexible
container)

PHYSICS-16
Calculating air
consumption(density)
 Remember as you go deeper the air
will become more dense (use absolute
pressure) and therefore you will use
more air.
 Air consumption may be calculated in
bar/min or liters/min
 The correct way would be liters/min,
but lots of the exam questions will be
worded in bar/min.
PHYSICS-17
 Problem calculation
 A diver breathes 16 bar/min at 30m,
what will his breathing rate be at 20m ?
 What will his rate be at the surface ?
 16 bar/min  4 bar (absolute pressure @
30m) = 4 bar/min
 Take it back down to 20m
 4 bar/min x 3 bar = 12 bar/min

PHYSICS-18
Sample problems

 If a diver breathes 2 bar/min at the

surface what would he breath at 30m?
 Answer: 8 bar/min
 If a diver breathes 10 bar/min at 25m,
what would his breathing rate be at
15m?
 Answer: 7.14 bar/min
PHYSICS-19
Sample problems
 If a diver uses 70 bar at 30m in 10
minutes and then ascends to 20m for
20 minutes, how much air will he use
at his new depth?
 Answer: 105 bar
 If a diver uses 50 bar in 10 minutes at
24m and then ascends to 16m for 15
minutes how much air will he use at
his new depth?
 Answer: 57.35 bar
PHYSICS-20
Buoyancy
calculations
 Archimedes Principle states that “any
object immersed in a fluid will be
buoyed up by a force equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the
object”
 So you need to know 3 things:
The weight of the object
The volume of fluid it displaces
The weight of the fluid it displaces
PHYSICS-21
Buoyancy
calculations
 For calculations in fresh water. 1 liter
of fresh water weighs 1 kilogram
 For calculations in sea water. 1 liter of
sea water weighs 1.03 kilograms
 Make sure you read the question
(fresh or salt water)
 Ignore the depth for now
PHYSICS-22
Problem Calculation
 An object weighing 240 kgs. Is lying in
15m of fresh water and displaces
90liters. How much air do you need to
add to a lifting bag to make the object
neutrally buoyant ?
 Calculate how much 90 liters of fresh
water weighs
 90 x 1.00 = 90 kgs.(upward force)

PHYSICS-23
 Problem calculation
 Subtract the weight of fresh water
from the weight of the object
 240 - 90 = 150 kgs (downward force left)
 So we need to displace another 150 kgs of
fresh water to make the object neutrally
buoyant
 Fresh water weighs 1.00 kg for each liter, so
we need to find out how many liters to displace
 150  1.00 = 150 liters

PHYSICS-24
Problem Calculation
 An object weighing 240 kgs. Is lying in
15m of sea water and displaces
90liters. How much air do you need to
add to a lifting bag to make the object
neutrally buoyant ?
 Calculate how much 90 liters of sea
water weighs
 90 x 1.03 = 92.7 kgs.(upward force)

PHYSICS-25
 Problem calculation
 Subtract the weight of sea water
from the weight of the object
 240 - 92.7 = 147.3 kgs (downward force left)
 So we need to displace another 147.3 kgs of
sea water to make the object neutrally buoyant
 Sea water weighs 1.03 kgs for each liter, so we
need to find out how many liters to displace
 147.3  1.03 = 143 liters

PHYSICS-26
Sample problems

 An object weighing 600 kgs is lying in

14m of fresh water and displaces 300
liters. How much air do you need to
add to a lifting bag to make the object
neutrally buoyant?
 Answer: 300 liters

PHYSICS-27
Sample problems

 An outboard engine weighing 150 kgs

and displacing 60 liters is lying in 20m
of sea water. How much air do you
need to add to a lifting bag to make the
engine neutrally buoyant?

 Answer: 85.6 liters

PHYSICS-28
Sample problems
 A concrete block weighing 800 kgs is
lying in 23m of sea water. It displaces
550 liters. How much air do you need
to add to lifting bag to make the block
neutrally buoyant?
 Answer: 226.7 liters

PHYSICS-29
Sample problems
 An object weighing 150 kgs and
displacing 200 liters is placed in fresh
water. How much lead do you need to
add to this object to make this object
10 kgs negatively buoyant? (Ignore the
displacement of the lead).
 Answer: 60kgs

PHYSICS-30
Sample problems
 An object that displaces 150 liters and
weighs 120 kgs is placed in sea water.
How much lead do you need to add to
the object to make it neutrally
buoyant? (You may ignore the minimal
displacement of the lead).
 Answer: 34.5 kgs

PHYSICS-31
Sample problems

 How much air do you need to pump

down from the surface to fill a 40 liter
drum lying at 40m on the sea bed?
 Answer: 200 liters
 Remember, only if the question asks
“how much air do you need to pump
down from the surface” do you need
to use the depth in the calculation.
PHYSICS-32
 Partial pressures
Air is a mixture of gases made
up of 79% Nitrogen
and 21% Oxygen
The total pressure of gas at the surface is 1 bar

Air
1 bar

Nitrogen Oxygen
O.79 bar O.21 bar
PHYSICS-33
Partial pressures
5
4
3
2
3.95 Total pressure of
2.37 3.16 air
1.58
Partial pressure
of Nitrogen

0.42 0.63 0.84 1.05 Partial pressure

of Oxygen

10m 20m 30m 40m

PHYSICS-34
 Problem calculation
 What is the partial pressure of Nitrogen in
air at 25m ?
 Simply multiply the percentage of gas by
the absolute pressure
 Percentage of Nitrogen in air is 79% (0.79)
 The absolute pressure at 25m is 3.5 bar
(25  10 = 2.5 + 1 = 3.5)
 0.79 x 3.5 = 2.765 bar
PHYSICS-35
Sample problems
 What is the partial pressure of
Oxygen in air at 38m?
 Answer: 1.008 bar
 What is the partial pressure of Nitrogen
in air at 25m?
 Answer: 2.765 bar
 What is the partial pressure of Oxygen in
air at 7m?
 Answer: 0.357 bar

PHYSICS-36
Sample problems
 You are diving at altitude, the air
pressure is 0.7 bar, what is the partial
pressure of Nitrogen at the surface?
 Answer: 0.553 bar
 On the same dive you reach a maximum
depth of 35m, what is the partial pressure
of Oxygen at this depth?
 Answer: 0.86 bar(fresh) or 0.88 bar(salt)

PHYSICS-37
Sample problems
 What is the partial pressure of
Nitrogen at 30m when diving on
EANx32 (32%Oxygen 68% Nitrogen)?
 Answer: 2.72 bar
 What is the partial pressure of Oxygen
at 24m when diving on EANx36 (36%
Oxygen 64% Nitrogen)?
 Answer: 1.224 bar

PHYSICS-38
Pressure, volume and
temperature
 Flexible container (balloon):
If the temperature changes the
pressure in the balloon will remain the
same but the volume will change.
 If the temperature goes up the balloon
will increase in volume (get bigger).
 If the temperature goes down the
balloon will decrease in volume (get
smaller).
PHYSICS-39
Pressure, vol.& temp.
 Inflexible container (scuba tank):
If the temperature changes the volume
remains the same but the pressure will
change. By how much?
 0.6 bar for every degree Celsius
 If the temperature goes up the pressure
goes up (increases)
 If the temperature goes down the
pressure goes down (decreases)

PHYSICS-40
 Problem calculation
 If a tank is filled to 230 bar and the temperature
is 35 degrees celcius, what would the pressure of
the tank be if put in water of 20 degrees celcius ?
 Calculate the difference in temperature
 35 - 20 = 15 degrees difference
 15 x 0.6 bar = 9 bar
 The temperature has gone down so subtract 9
bar from the original pressure.
 230 bar - 9 bar = 221 bar

PHYSICS-41
Sample problems
 If a scuba tank is filled to 200 bar at
20 degrees Celcius and then taken into
water of 8 degrees Celcius what would be
the new pressure in the tank?
 Answer: 192.8 bar
 If a scuba tank is filled to 210 bar at 15
degrees Celcius and left in the sun at 40
degrees Celcius what would be the new
pressure in the tank?
 Answer: 225 bar
PHYSICS-42
Absorption of gases
 If the pressure increases gas will be
absorbed into a liquid until it reaches a
state of equilibrium. (Saturation).
 If the pressure decreases the gas will be
released from the liquid.
(Supersaturation).
 If the pressure is released rapidly gas
bubbles will form, this is the mechanism
behind decompression sickness.

PHYSICS-43
Sample questions
 If the ambient pressure surrounding a
liquid filled open container is
increased, what will happen to the
amount of gas that is dissolved in the
liquid ?

 It will increase until reaching

equilibrium.

PHYSICS-44
Sample questions
 If the ambient pressure surrounding a
liquid filled open container is
decreased, what will happen to the
amount of gas that is dissolved in the
liquid ?

 It will decrease and bubbles may form

PHYSICS-45
We’ve looked at...
 Light, heat & sound
 Pressure, volume & density
 Buoyancy calculations
 Partial pressures
 Pressure, volume & temperature
 Absorption of gases
 Now let’s take an exam and see how
we do on Physics
PHYSICS-46