Diver's do not breath pure oxygen, most recreational diver's breath compressed air, the
same air that you breath all the time it contains 78.084% Nitrogen, 0.934% Argon 20.946% Oxygen
0.033% Carbon Dioxide it's just filtered as it's put into the tanks. To much oxygen becomes
toxic under pressure. But in diving emergencies pure oxygen is used on a diver at the surface.
There is a new mixtures of gases known as Nitrox where they adjust the mixture of oxygen and
nitrogen also known as safe air.
How long can you stay down?
There are so many veriables that determined how long you can stay down that it CAN
NOT be predicted for any one person or any one time. the veriables are the size of the
tank, depth, activity level and the persons breathing habit. I average 30 minutes per dive
What about sharks?
One, most of them are not dangerous to humans, two if you ever go on a shark dive you
will see that it takes a lot of stuff to even get them to come to you and three most sharks
attack from underneath their victims and thus being a diver you spend most of your time
on the bottom
What about diver's impact on the ocean?
Diver's are probably one of the most environmently conscious people around that's why we
dive, to see nature in it's prestein state
Do you hold your breath while scuba diving?
NO! Never ever hold your breath while scuba diving. The saying goes never stop
breathing. The reason is because while you are under water the air that you are breathing
is compressed not from being in the tank but because of the weight of the water above
you, if you change your depth while holding your breath the air in your lungs can expand
and pop your lungs like a balloon
What if you run out of air?
If you do, it's because of your own ignorance and stupidity. You have a gage that tells you
how much air you have, That's what it's there for so look at it on a regular basies.
How fast should you ascend?
If you don't have any other stops to make like safety stops or decompression stops the
rule of thumb
is not more then one foot per second but some organizations recommend not more then
1/2 foot per second
What are the BENDS?
It is also known as decompression sickness, DCS, this is a intensive subject and could be a
page by itself, but in short it is caused by the nitrogen that is absorbed into the body
under pressure of the depth from the air that you are breathing and as you come up from
that pressure to fast or you stayed at a depth for to long the nitrogen in the body begins to
form bubbles with in the body which is not a good thing.
If you have any questions or comments please E-Mail me
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