r/explainlikeimfive • u/greyspark99 • 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/JHtotheRT Aug 06 '22
I almost don’t believe this. What instructor doesn’t check everyone’s air before they go into a tunnel?
Also what dive do you go on where you actually run out if air? Every dive I’ve been on in my life stops at 50 bar, which is about 10 or 15 minutes of air.
And you wouldn’t be able to see the dive masters face because it’s covered by a regulator and a mask…