# How strong a vacuum can a person produce with their chest/diaphragm?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-a-vacuum-can-a-person-produce-with-their-chest-diaphragm/1005492>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 9, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-a-vacuum-can-a-person-produce-with-their-chest-diaphragm/1005492 "2024-08-09T19:05:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-a-vacuum-can-a-person-produce-with-their-chest-diaphragm/1005492/4 "2024-08-09T19:30:20Z")

</div>

We had a discussion about this [on this board](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-snorkel-tube-be-and-still-be-effective/354567) in 2006.

What I’ve always heard is the limit at which a person’s diaphragm can overcome water pressure is about 2-3 feet. I can’t immediately find an authoritative source for this, but various discussions on the Interwebs agree with this number.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-a-vacuum-can-a-person-produce-with-their-chest-diaphragm/1005492)._