The question I have is regarding a scene from the movie, ‘‘Abyss’’. In this particular scene, a rat was immersed in a super oxygenated liquid which was said to allow divers to reach unlimited depths. Does this liquid actually exist and if so, in theory anyway, could divers actually obtain extreme depths while breathing this liquid?
I recently watched an interview with James Cameron and he stated that the scene with the rat wasn’t faked. The rat was actually breathing this oxygenated liquid.
While the lungs would be filled with this liquid I understand how the pressure would be equal but what about other body parts that have air pockets such as the stomach, bladder or even bone structure? Surly this ‘‘liquid’’ wouldn’t fill in these voids.
In a nutshell, the technology exists, but has significant limitations. Most notably, the liquid can deliver sufficient oxygen, but does not carry away enough waste carbon dioxide under normal circumstances to keep you alive.
Not only that, but there is difficulty in moving large volumes of dense, viscous liquid in and out of the lungs at a sufficient rate. A rat is small enough that the fluid velocities in the airway (and the associated mechanical work requirement) are not a problem, but for larger organisms it becomes a lot more difficult.
re: air pockets in the body:
when you SCUBA-dive, as you descend, ambient water presses inward on your eardrum. You need to periodically equalize the pressure inside your inner ear. Since your airway is pressurized with air from your breathing regulator, it’s a simple matter to yawn or performa Valsalva maneuver to gently force some of that air through the Eustachian tube into the inner ear, equalizing the pressure and relieving strain on the eardrum. If you are breathing liquid, you should still be able to equalize pressure; you would just end up with some perfluorocarbon (or other breathing liquid) in your inner ear.
Any gas pockets in your digestive tract would compress without incident during descent, and expand back to their original volume during ascent.
There are no air pockets in the bladder or bones.
Dental fillings and other tooth issues can sometimes cause problems for scuba divers (see tooth squeeze). Whereas this occasionally causes problems for recreational scuba divers (who dive to no more than ~100 feet), one would expect a larger rate of occurrence among fluid-breathing divers who would go to much greater depths (where the pressure is much greater).
