Articles » Scuba Diving
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Scuba diving tanks come in a variety of capacities, styles and contents. The standard mixture is nothing more than ordinary compressed air, containing 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen just as exists in the atmosphere near sea level. Deep dives and other specialty applications may use a higher concentration of oxygen, add helium or have other exotic mixtures.
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It's well known that scuba diving tanks are the canisters that supply air to the diver underwater. But beyond performing that seemingly simple, singular function there is much variety. For a plain metal cylinder, scuba tanks have a surprising number of differences. With the exception of certain unique designs, all tanks are made either of a steel alloy or aluminum. Technical diving, specialized sport diving and military applications will sometimes use a chrome-molybdenum alloy. Each type has its pros and cons.
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Regulators and tanks are critical to scuba diving, that's obvious. But if you want to get any enjoyment out of the adventure, a good face mask is essential. What makes one good? Item number one on the list is fit. A diving mask has to fit well the face of the individual diver. Otherwise, all sorts of problems occur. Ill-fitting masks irritate the skin, make seeing difficult, have the potential for leakage, fog and other negatives.
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The computer revolution of the 1980s that led to ever smaller PCs wasn't a boon only to business. Scuba divers, too, have benefited enormously from the electronics and miniaturization advances. The prime example of this is the dive computer. A dive computer is a wristwatch-like device that measures time and ambient pressure, temperature and sometimes other variables. Its primary purpose is to make measurements and calculations that provide the diver with recommendations for safe ascent.
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It's ironic in the extreme that even though a diver may be surrounded by millions of gallons of water, dehydration can be a serious problem. Dehydration occurs when a diver has inadequate water throughout the body. But why is this a problem? Because, as every Freshman biology major learns, water is essential to a dozen critical biochemical processes and biophysical systems. At the most basic level, water is needed in order for cells to carry out chemical reactions.
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Scuba Diving Basics – Buoyancy and Pressure
Before entering the water it's a good idea to learn a little very elementary physics. Divers don't have to be scientists - though many are. But if you want to enjoy the experience a second time, a little knowledge goes a long way toward keeping you safe.
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Safety Tips for Safe Scuba Dives
Scuba diving is a great adventure. But it is also inherently risky. Novice divers learn early on during a certification class how to dive safely. That's the only way to enjoy the dive, this time and in the future. Here are some tips on how to stay safe. Tip number one should be unnecessary, but it's the most important and has to be said: Never screw around during a dive. No practical jokes, no fights - even playful ones, no hide and seek... you can make up the list yourself. Diving is perfectly safe - if you dive responsibly.
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Picking a Perfect Scuba Wetsuit
Ok, so the title is a little misleading. There really is no such thing as the perfect wetsuit. But many manufacturers have come surprisingly close. With almost a hundred years of design expertise and trial and error, they've had lots of practice.
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Scuba diving is a wonderful sport. Underwater you experience an amazing variety of plant and animal life, physical and sensory effects, an overall environment that simply isn't possible topside. But diving has serious and real risks, too. Fortunately, with proper guidance and training those can be minimized easily in order to enjoy all the positive aspects. One of the most serious potential risks comes from nitrogen narcosis. This is a condition that can result from diving too deep, bringing on disorientation, euphoria, errors in judgment and even hallucinations or unconsciousness. Any of those can be fatal.
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An Introduction to Scuba Diving
Think of scuba diving and images of James Bond wearing fins and sneaking up on the villain come to mind. Or, maybe your first thought is of Jacques Cousteau investigating the creatures of a coral reef. Both scenarios have entered popular culture for good reason - both reflect the adventure and wonder that characterize scuba diving. Though many regard Jules Verne's description of underwater diving as pure science fiction, equipment-assisted diving had been around for more than 100 years earlier.
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There are several essential factors in a successful dive. Breathing, of course, is paramount. Keeping warm is another but, depending on where you dive, that may often take care of itself. But no matter where you dive, visual acuity is important. Seeing well means keeping you safe and allowing you to enjoy all that diving has to offer - the colorful plants and fish, the splendid variety, the aspects of our world so interestingly different from the land. To accomplish that, you have to know how to keep your mask clear.
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Choosing a fin is a surprisingly complicated business for such an apparently simple device. But the seeming simplicity of fins is deceptive. There's a lot that goes into engineering a great fin. Here are some guidelines for novice divers to help make it easier to choose.
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How to Choose a Buoyancy Compensator?
Contemporary buoyancy compensator designs have an array of special features that can turn an ordinary buoyancy compensator into an extremely helpful adjunct to the diver's gear. Many designs today will provide straps and padding for integrating the tank with the buoyancy compensator. Some will even have integrated regulators and hose assemblies. The specific size and shape will determine, among other things, where the tank rides on the back. A low-slung tank can be a literal pain in the butt.
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Choosing a Buoyancy Compensator
Buoyancy compensator devices are used to aid the scuba diver to maintain neutral buoyancy. 'Positive buoyancy' causes the diver to rise, 'negative buoyancy' results in sinking. Thanks to modern materials science and great product design, buoyancy compensators are better than ever. They come in a variety of styles, sizes and materials - not to mention price range - and have a dozen different built-in helpful devices. Buoyancy compensators come in three basic styles: wings, jackets or vests.
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Equalizing Pressure Underwater
How to keep your scuba diving experience safe and comfortable is among the first lessons taught in any good dive school. Early in those lessons is one which covers how to handle the effects of pressure. Water pressure compresses gas much more readily than liquid. As a result, your torso and arms and legs may feel only slight squeezing, but any part of the body that contains trapped air will experience a much greater net force.
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Scuba - Diving Instruction and Certification
Early in your exploration of scuba diving you'll run across the term 'certification'. What is that, and do you need it? Certification is the process of obtaining a certificate from a recognized diving school with authorized instructors. It's the result of taking courses that teach scuba diving. Simple. Deciding whether you will want to invest the time and money to get certified is a little less so.
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Scuba - Decompression Sickness
One the earliest and most well-reported cases of DCS, or Decompression Sickness, was encountered during the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Workers spent long hours in caissons, compressed-air filled chambers underwater near the supports of the bridge. When they surfaced, they experienced joint pain, abdominal cramps and sometimes death. The condition came to be known as 'caissons disease'.
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A buoyancy compensator (BC) or buoyancy compensating device (BCD) is a jacket that helps divers maintain neutral buoyancy during a dive. When an object underwater rises, it's positively buoyant. If it sinks, it's negatively buoyant. When it remains stationary, divers say it has achieved 'neutral buoyancy' - the goal for all divers. The purpose of diving is to enjoy investigating the undersea world so different from dry land. That's difficult if you're constantly sinking or rising. Neutral buoyancy allows a diver to control the dive and move around freely.
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You would think breathing is the most natural thing in the world. You've been doing it all your life without much thought. Inhale, exhale. What could be simpler? But breathing underwater, even with a tank of air, requires a little more knowledge than 'inhale, exhale'.
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Divers today are fortunate to have the latest technology available in breathing equipment. It wasn't always so. A hundred years ago, breathing underwater was accomplished by long tubes, sacks of air carried with a diver and many other ingenious methods. But there were problems associated with those methods that modern demand valve regulators and pressurized tanks have solved.