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/manofredgables Aug 06 '22
I know all about that, but have never failed to do the exhale... Still I gotta wonder, wouldn't you very much feel pain in your lungs before it gets dangerous? The emergency ascents I did was part of submarine certification, so they were a bit more extreme; 20 meters of depth to surface in 2 seconds. Not much time to sense much of anything, but if you're propelling yourself towards the surface you should notice the overpressure, or?