I’ve dived to the bottom of normal community pools with minimal discomfort, although the water pressure does take some getting used to. How deep can you go before the water pressure crushes your eardrums (or some other serious damage occurs)?
TheWiki article on free diving gives the world record for men as 172 m (564 ft.) and for women as 160 m (525 ft.).
*How deep can you go before the water pressure crushes your eardrums *
If you don’t equalize the pressure (by pinching your nose and blowing the air into the ears - similar to what you do in a plane), you can’t go below 5m, 10 m at the absolute most, without damage.
(or some other serious damage occurs)?
I’ll have to ask a diver for more details about this, but it’s important to remember that damage can occur not only diving down, but also on the way back up, regarding pressure.
BTW, you seem to be lucky to dive to the bottom of a pool without discomfort if you aren’t used to it. I get headache from the pressure very quickly, before I reach the bottom at 3.75 m. This is, of course, an individual response, where YMMV.
Assuming that you equalize the pressure in your ears there is not a problem with the human body and diving from pressure alone.
If you go deep enough, you would need to breathe non-air mixes of gases, as Nitrogen becomes intoxicating at great pressures. Nitrogen narcosis or Rapture of the deep. The percentage of oxygen must also be cut down as you go deeper to prevent Hyperoxia. This Wiki page mentions that Trimix is good for depths below 429 feet. :eek:
How deep do you want to go?
One the way back up you must remember to breathe out (assuming you are not free diving, and holding your breath from the surface) or you run the risk of the expandig air in your lungs causing them to burst.
Also depending on bottom time and depth, you may have to stop and decompress to prevent the bends.
Rick hit all the high points. I was going to mention oxygen toxicity, but he hit on hyperoxia as well.
Speaking strictly about ears, comfort level varies widely with the individual, water temperature, salinity, and lots of other stuff. When we’re diving, I usually don’t have to equalize until I’m down to 25 feet or so. Even then, my ears equalize very easily; usually just wiggling my jaw does the trick. Once in a great while I have to actually pinch my nose and do a Valsalva, hence I can pretty much rocket to the bottom. My wife on the other hand, has to equalize early and often. She generally has to pause every 15 feet or so for a minute to equalize.
Cold water seems to create more discomfort than warm, and salt water will generally cause discomfort at a shallower depth than warm. Any congestion will obviously contribute to a higher level of discomfort.
I assume you don’t use SCUBA to go to the bottom of your swimming pool but just hold your breath and dive.
If that’s the case then this is the answer you’re looking for.
From the link:
Man has only swum more than 200 meters without breathing once. In 2005. For 8 minutes, 56 second. (Okay, so I combined events.)
I’ve heard that 8-10 feet (normal swimming pool depth) is ok and will not cause any permanent damage to anyone’s ears. But any deeper and you will want to equalize. I touched bottom at 70 feet once. I almost didn’t make it back to the surface though.
This is just a question that intrigues me, as I’ve always wanted to go SCUBA diving sometime. Not considering it in the near future, though.