Deep H2O and the unprotected human body do n’t play well together — like , at all . But what if there were a way to get around the consistence ’s chemical substance limitations , a means of mysterious diving without the bend dexter or lengthy decompression ? really , there is . And we ’ve almost project out how to do it without kill ourselves in the process .
The recommended right-down limitation for recreational SCUBA divers is just 130 feet , and expert dives usingTrimixbottom out at 330 . Even then , you ’ve make less than five minutes at depth before require monitored decompression to nullify get the bends ( the not - shuddery word for when nitrogen dissolves into your tissue under the massive pressure sensation of the H2O tower , is ejected into the bloodstream during ascent , and you pass of a wit embolism ) . Interestingly though , once your body hit its nitrogen saturation point of accumulation , it does n’t weigh if you stay down for an hour or a calendar month ; your decompressing time efficaciously maxes out .
This technique , known as intensity diving , is how recuperation plunger working on the K-141 Kursk were able to spend hours 300 feet below sea level ( amidst 10 atmospheres of insistency ) and how the crew in The Abyss were able-bodied to do their jobs .
Liquid Air
Perhaps the best - remembered scene from the 1989 Sci - Fi classic The Abyss is when Ed Harris ’ eccentric has to get into a liquid - fill diving suit to descend into the Mariana Trench . He and attempts to emit what looks like blistering ham actor water in rules of order to prevent the surround pressures frompopping his lung like blinking balloon . Turns out , this prospect is close-fitting to skill fact than skill fable .
The core is a perfluorocarbon ( PFC ) , a celluloid liquid fluorinated hydrocarbon — decipherable , odorless , chemically and biologically inert , with a downhearted surface stress and high O2 / CO2 carrying capacitance . perfluorocarbon can hold as much as three times the oxygen and four times the atomic number 6 dioxide as human blood . They also act as very efficient heat exchanges . This makes PFCs ideal for use as a fluid ventilating system ( LV ) medium for medical coating .
Research into fluent ventilation ( when you breathe an O - fat liquid instead of air travel ) and PFCs begin in earnest immediately following the end of the first World War , when doctors studying intervention of toxicant petrol breathing in begin applying saline solution solutions to quiz subjects ’ ( in this case , dogs ) lungs . PFCs themselves were developed in the other forties as part of the Manhattan Project . They were dub “ Joe ’s stuff . ”
However it was n’t until the sixties that the field of view really take on off . It was the pinnacle of the Cold War and the US military needed a way to increase the escape valve depth from the legion submarines it had parked around the ball in the effect of a ruinous systems nonstarter . In 1962,Dr . Johannes A. Kylstra and his squad from Duke Universityshowed thatmice could be specify to breathe an oxygenate saline solution solution pressurized to 160 atmospheres(or 1 mile below sea level ) , although they just died a few minutes later from respiratory acidosis ( carbon copy dioxide poisoning ) . The system was far from consummate , but illustrate that such a proficiency was indeed potential , albeit not yet plausible .
Subsequent experimentation performed byLeland C. Clark , Jr. and Frank Gollanshowed that mice could catch one’s breath PFC under normal atmospheric status , rats could stay submerged for up to 20 hours , and quat could last calendar week . Their study also employ silicone polymer oils as an choice to PFCs but , as it turns out , silicone polymer oil is really toxic to mammalian ( but only after return to breathing normal gentle wind ) . PFCs are currently the only acceptable liquid ventilating system sensitive we know of .
In 1989 , human tribulation began in Philadelphia . Several close - death infants suffering from austere respiratory distraint were administered total smooth respiration — whole filling the lung with PFC fluid vs filling them to their functional residual capacity — and show some remarkable physiologic improvements , include lung compliance and gas exchange . And that might just be the trick .
During normal development , the foetus ’ lung are fill with amniotic fluid and , once they ’re born , a chemical substance known as wetting agent help prevent the lungs from collapsing . untimely babies , however , have not yet develop enough surfactant to prevent their lung from folding in on themselves , so when they ’re suddenly exposed to a gas atmosphere they struggle just to rest .
The Philadelphia trials aim to see if liquid ventilation could accurately vivify conditions within the uterus , act as an artificial wetting agent , and scale down the neo - natals ’ stress . While the effort were n’t enough to make unnecessary lifetime , the lung carrying out improvements remained even after dispatch the breathing machine , and proved that liquid ventilation was a stiff therapy for premature baby .
The Last Hurdle
Despite its proportional success during the Philadelphia trial , entire liquid ventilation ( TLV ) remains very much an experimental procedure . to accurately and safely control the volumes of PFC flowing in and out of a affected role ’s lung , TLV system demand a tissue layer oxygenator , a smoke , and an array of pump to deliver the PFC — essentially , a dedicated liquidity breathing machine . unluckily , such a equipment has yet to make it past the prototype stage .
Partial Liquid Ventilation ( PLV ) , on the other hand , only fill up about 40 percentage of the patient ’s lungs with PFC , with the remaining capacity fill up by air from a conventional flatulency ventilator . This stand for that PLV can be used with existing FDA - approved equipment and can be used to treat penetrating lung injuries as well as preterm infant . The PFC help dislodge debris from alveoli ( say , from smoke inhalation ) , open choked pathways , and conveyance oxygen deep into the lungs while protect them from collapse and minimizing lower-ranking damage .
But we still have n’t overcome the issues that kill Kylstra ’s mouse . The high viscosity of PFC prevent it from cycling through the lungs efficiently enough to exorcise CO2 and prevent respiratory acidosis . You ’d have to pedal the fluid at a rate of 5 liters per minute to match a received rest metamorphosis , 10 liters a minute for any sort of activity , and the human lung simply are n’t strong enough for such a task .
In other word , The Abyss would have been a bit more accurate if Ed Harris had been carrying a breathing equipment with him . But even then , he probably would n’t have made it very long . [ Wikipedia – Science Daily – How Stuff work – National Institute of Health – Kansas University Medical Center – British Journal of Anesthesiologists ]
liquidity
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