Why do deep-sea divers need to wear special suits?

Answer 1

A diver must rise to the surface of the water slowly because of the changing pressures and if they simply rose straight to the top from deep down their brain and body wouldn't be able to cope with trying to equalise the pressure and they would either die or end up with severe problems. It is a way of trying to get your body to equalise the pressure and realise the pressure is lessening. When you go under water, you are putting the amount of pressure of water and the pressure from the land on top of you, that is a lot of pressure to get your body used to. One of the issues was the Benz; which would have them driven mad by the suddenness of the changing pressures.

Answer 2

Things like pressure and temperature can harm deep sea divers.

The pressure is GREATLY increased while going deeper under water.

The temperature is also a lot colder so the suit regulates temperature.

An Oxygen tank is also used... obviously this is the breath.

Because the wet suits keep their body from succumbing to freezing temperatures of the deep ocean.

Answer 3

At high pressures Helium is still non-toxic to our bodies and the molecules are small enough at one atmosphere of pressure (14.7 psi) to not get trapped within our bodies the way Nitrogen does. When in very deep water whatever we breathe gets compressed tightly and is pushed through our lungs' walls into our bloodstream. At one atmosphere of pressure the Nitrogen in the air we breathe is too large to pass into our bloodstream and so is harmless. Every gas other than Helium is toxic at high pressure. While deep diving even Oxygen is toxic in normal percentages.

Improved Answer

The above is not correct. ALL gasses can contribute to decompression sickness (even oxygen in high enough doses - which does not happen in recreational or technical diving). Nitrogen does go into (and out of) the bloodstream even at one atmosphere. Because helium is a smaller gas, it will move into the divers tissues faster than nitrogen and cause a gas buildup faster than nitrogen - which can put a diver into a required decompression stop situation faster than air.

But the original question is why is helium and oxygen used as a breathing mixture. Oxygen is obviously used since it is needed to "fuel" our bodies. It is added since the oxygen content of a breathing mixture would not have enough oxygen in it after helium is added since the helium would dilute the oxygen to an undesirable level. Helium is used since it has very low (almost non-existent) narcotic properties. The nitrogen in air is highly narcotic at depth and adding helium allows one to dive without the effects of narcosis (where one's mind is impaired).

Answer 4

We need to look at a couple of things to understand this question and its answer, so let's dive in. When divers go deep, they breathe air that is under pressure. The deeper a diver goes, the higher the pressure of the air he is breathing. With water pressure all around him, high pressure air is needed to keep his lungs from collapsing.

This air, particularly the nitrogen in it, becomes dissolved in the blood. If a diver suddenly came up from a deep dive, the rapid reduction in pressure would result in the gas in his blood coming out of solution and forming bubbles in his circulatory system. This can be extremely painful and even fatal.

Divers know "the bends" as this rapid decompression a diver experiences when he surfaces too rapidly. It's like taking the cap off a bottle of carbonated beverage. Rapid decompression allows carbon dioxide in the soda to come out of solution and form bubbles. This can happen when to divers who ignore warnings or miscalculate decompression times.

Answer 5

Because they have a air tank to help them breath.

Answer 6

Scuba - self contained underwater breathing apparatus

Answer 7

So that there wouldn't be more pressure in the body than outside their body.

Answer 8

Water is generally colder than body temperature so divers need special suits to keep warm to be able to stay down longer.

Answer 9

Following the law of

F=Rho.g.h

The deeper the diver goes the more the force is exerted on them increases. Making it harder to breath.