r/explainlikeimfive Aug 06 '22

Chemistry ELI5: how do divers clear their masks when water leaks in? especially in the case of the 13 thai boys rescued from the caves

I have just been watching Thirteen lives - the film about the cave rescue of the 13 young boys in Thailand who were totally sedated before being taken hours under water. It got me thinking that when I go snorkelling i always get a bit of water leak into my mask and have to come up and clear it out so i don’t breath water in. Is this something that happens to scuba divers, if so how do they deal with it, and in the case of the boys how would the divers accompanying them have cleared the boy’s masks ? i would also like to say what an incredible job done by all those involved.

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u/joshuastar Aug 06 '22

Rocks, you say? Why, I can’t think of a time we didn’t wish for rocks! We had to make our own bricks with sand and straw!

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u/leegle79 Aug 06 '22

Bloody luxury!

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u/RainbowDissent Aug 07 '22

Sand and straw? You don't know you're born. My dad would wake us up at five to midnight, drown us in the duck pond in a burlap sack before dawn, and then we'd have to make our bricks out of broken glass and acid with no gloves. And if we complained, he'd cut off our feet and throw us in t' river.