• Question: In the ocean, how far down can you swim before the water pressure starts to crush your body?

    Asked by 568sprg52 to Andrew, Dan, Emilia, Helen, Katy, LauraAnne, Stephanie on 7 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Helen Hanstock

      Helen Hanstock answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      The freediving world record is 214m below the sea surface. However this takes a lot of training and physiological adaptation to achieve so most humans couldn’t get close to this!

      When humans dive deep into the ocean pressure is a big concern. If you come up too quickly, then we can experience a phenomenon called ‘the bends’ which is where the gases that are dissolved in your blood can form bubbles as you move to areas of lower pressure. This can be very painful as well as dangerous.

    • Photo: Dan Gordon

      Dan Gordon answered on 8 Nov 2016:

      The free diving record is impressive, especially when you consider what is happening physiologically. In order for you to dive down as you suggest in your question there has to be an increase in pressure. This causes the air in all of the body compartments, but especially the lungs to be ejected, the lungs start to become compressed, additionally the increased pressure causes all of the major organs to move upwards, closer to the heart. It is estimated that when doing a free dive that the lung size is squeezed to 1/7 of its normal size.

    • Photo: LauraAnne Furlong

      LauraAnne Furlong answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      wow – I didn’t know the answer to this one, had an idea of what happens but didn’t have a number to put to it. 214 m is an incredible depth to be able to go to, and isn’t it amazing to think that the lungs will be squeezed to such a tiny fraction of their usual size, yet still function.

    • Photo: Emilia McAllister-Jepps

      Emilia McAllister-Jepps answered on 13 Nov 2016:

      Such a good question and I’ve learned something new too!

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