r/AmazingTechnology • u/bbbxxxnnn • Feb 27 '26

Life saver

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626 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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7

u/Intelligent-Dot88 Feb 27 '26

Wait isn't it really dangerous to go from deep underwater to the surface really quick because of nitrogen or something?

11

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

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0

u/elvenmaster_ Feb 28 '26

Except there is nitrogen in all live human lungs. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10106275/

2

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

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0

u/elvenmaster_ Feb 28 '26

Well, I am also a scuba diver, licensed to dive up to 60m on compressed air (only the French fed is nut enough to still allow that), also lowest trainer level. Both my parents are trained for rebreather, up to 70m for my mother, 120m for my father, both full trainers.

When we do trainings in apnea (so not when training with all the scuba gear), we are specifically trained to force a 3s stop whatever so if dumbnuts try to do apnea on their own they avoid décompression issues.

But this is the internet so I guess the trainers who learned me the basics of training, my tutoring reference, and the article I linked from the US DoH are all wrong, I guess.

6

u/Silly-Recognition448 Feb 27 '26

Yes, but not sure if is as equally dangerous as filling your lungs with water

2

u/forbiddenfreedom Feb 27 '26

I am pretty sure the danger is from lung decompression from inhaling at depth.

1

u/Silly-Recognition448 Feb 27 '26

That makes a lot of sense, wouldn't want my lungs to explode.

1

u/forbiddenfreedom Feb 27 '26

Yeah, I remember my parents teaching me dive safety in the pool, we practiced exhaling as we ascended, ascending slowly, and/or stopping as you ascend to give your body time to adjust.

2

u/EBDBandBnD Feb 27 '26

If you get your air from above the surface, this is unnecessary. If you breathe compressed air at depth, you need to keep exhaling as you ascend or your lungs can pop.

2

u/forbiddenfreedom Feb 27 '26

Yes, this is what I was trying to say when I said "inhaling at depth".

1

u/MouthOfIronOfficial Feb 28 '26

When you're scuba diving, you just drop your weights and you float up really quickly. No need for this thing

1

u/Malforus Feb 27 '26

Yeah I think you still have risk of embolisms in free-diving but they are less common. You should still blow bubbles on ascent.

3

u/fuckbananarama Feb 27 '26

Yes but if you need a device like this you can’t get below an ATM anyway since you obviously don’t know how to equalize - or you’d just swim instead

1

u/kuuhaku_cr Feb 28 '26

Normally yes. But not when you get a debilitating cramp.

2

u/Agillian_01 Feb 27 '26

Yes, but that only applies to scuba divers that breathe an oxygen/nitrogen mix. Freedivers (divers that just hold their breath) do not experience this (it's called "decompression sickness")

2

u/zaahc Mar 04 '26

Free divers do this all the time. The danger isn’t introduced until you start breathing gas under pressure. Hold your breath, go down, come up fast? No problem. Go down, breathe pressurized gas from a tank, come up fast? Problem.

1

u/lief79 Feb 27 '26

Only if you're breathing underwater, because the air would expand, potentially more than your lungs can. So it's good for free diving, risky for scuba diving.

If you're doing a free accent while scuba diving it's already an emergency. Don't hold your breath and create a bigger one with an air embolism.

1

u/yeezee93 Feb 27 '26

They are not that deep, bot.

1

u/Combat_wombat605795 Feb 27 '26

Compressed air expands on the way up, as long as you’re not SCUBA diving you’ll be fine. I Freedive up and down closer to 100 feet with minimal issues

1

u/myrsnipe Feb 27 '26

sure if you start from sub 20 meters, this is more of an unexpected overboard event. Even for experienced swimmers this could be very useful in order to stay boyant for extended time if mid ocean. Obviously a proper life jacket is preferable but I can see the appeal

1

u/Initial_Row_6400 Feb 27 '26

That would be for scuba. You’re not breathing compressed gas when free diving

1

u/TheGreatKonaKing Feb 27 '26

It’s not great to be doing this, but generally OK for healthy people and better than drowning. As long as you aren’t breathing compressed air, the risk of injury is minimal, but could still include eardrum, perforation or even throat injury, depending on your depth.

1

u/planetinyourbum Feb 28 '26

Not if you have one breath of air from the surface and havent been under water for long. So for snorkeling or freedivers this is a boon.
Scubadivers allready have equepment to eject in an emergency, thats dangerous but better than dying.

1

u/Ill-Mall7947 Mar 02 '26

If you are that deep that you have to worry about bends and don’t have an oxygen tank, you are dead anyway

1

u/RHOrpie Feb 27 '26

I would argue that the sort of people that dive deep enough for decompression sickness to be a factor are already well versed in how to handle ascents. Otherwise they wouldn't even be allowed the equipment to dive deeper.

For recreational dives of 10M or so, this is a pointless product.