What is the maximum atmospheric pressure a human can tolerate? [duplicate]
This question already has an answer here:
Maximum survivable atmospheric pressure
3 answers
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is impossible (e.g. skin begins to rupture, etc.)?
life humans
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
marked as duplicate by Mark, peterh, Mark Omo, Dr Sheldon, Nathan Tuggy Dec 8 at 4:24
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
add a comment |
This question already has an answer here:
Maximum survivable atmospheric pressure
3 answers
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is impossible (e.g. skin begins to rupture, etc.)?
life humans
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
marked as duplicate by Mark, peterh, Mark Omo, Dr Sheldon, Nathan Tuggy Dec 8 at 4:24
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
1
If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:36
1
Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 at 22:35
add a comment |
This question already has an answer here:
Maximum survivable atmospheric pressure
3 answers
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is impossible (e.g. skin begins to rupture, etc.)?
life humans
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
This question already has an answer here:
Maximum survivable atmospheric pressure
3 answers
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is impossible (e.g. skin begins to rupture, etc.)?
This question already has an answer here:
Maximum survivable atmospheric pressure
3 answers
life humans
life humans
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
asked Dec 7 at 17:02
Wes Spieker
212
212
marked as duplicate by Mark, peterh, Mark Omo, Dr Sheldon, Nathan Tuggy Dec 8 at 4:24
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
marked as duplicate by Mark, peterh, Mark Omo, Dr Sheldon, Nathan Tuggy Dec 8 at 4:24
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
1
If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:36
1
Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 at 22:35
add a comment |
1
If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:36
1
Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 at 22:35
1
1
If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:36
If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:36
1
1
Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 at 22:35
Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 at 22:35
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
The answers are found in the SCUBA diving world. Diving is interesting in this sense in that 10m is roughly an increase in pressure of 1atm.
In general, you wont see humans doing well above 30atm. 300m is a "holy grail" of sorts for deep diving. Only a handful of people have ever gone that far down. And by a handful, I mean it's been done seven times, total.
NCBI provides a short paper with a theoretical limit of 1000m for humans, based on data we have collected from saturation divers to date. That would be 100atm of pressure.
Somewhere in between is the claimed record for deep diving which is roughly 600m.
Slightly higher than that, we find synthetic testing of Hydreliox. This was done in a chamber compressed to a simulated 700m (70atm). It was found that there were issues with hydrogen narcosis at depths below 500m, no matter how they tweaked the mix.
I cannot find the link, but I came across a fascinating link months ago which described the different gases you can breathe and how deep you can go. At somewhere in the 40m range, you start suffering from nitrogen narcosis, so its beneficial to use a mix without nitrogen to go lower, such as heliox. However, at extreme depths, you start running into helium toxicity issues, and adding a little nitrogen in helps with that. Yes, I said helium toxicity. At high enough pressures, the noble gasses start to kill us, and of the noble gasses, we use helium at those depths because it kills us the least!
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
+1 for a great answer, but it might be nice to point out why it's so surprising that Helium becomes toxic. Or at least add a link. Depressingly I can't actually even find anything about helium toxicity on the web.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 22:52
1
@DRF It's really strange to hear that a noble gas has toxic effects. It had something to do with the nervous system, but I forget what it was. And, like you, I can't find links. It doesn't matter until something like 1000m, and there's not a whole lot of web-indexed content on what happens to the body at that point!
– Cort Ammon
Dec 7 at 23:05
2
Right I assume the strangeness comes from the fact that noble gasses are inert and so you would not expect them to interact in any way other than possibly displacing stuff.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 23:08
These only seven dives to more than 300 m do not include the dives of professional saturation divers using a divers bell at constant pressure for the transfer from surface to ground and back. These seven dives are done with decompression in the water not using a divers bell and saturation diving.
– Uwe
Dec 8 at 14:31
add a comment |
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is
impossible
The maximum tolerated pressure by a diver. It can be over 65 atm or bars.
See: Saturation_diving
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:39
add a comment |
There does not appear to be a maximum pressure. We hit a limit as Cort Ammon says but that is a matter of what we can breathe, not an actual pressure limit. You get poisoned by going too deep, not crushed or torn apart.
Note that this does not preclude a hypothetical liquid breathing system. While we do not know how to build something yet (there are liquids that can carry enough oxygen and are non-toxic. The problem is it would take too much effort for our lungs to move it in and out) this is a technological limit, not a theoretical limit.
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The answers are found in the SCUBA diving world. Diving is interesting in this sense in that 10m is roughly an increase in pressure of 1atm.
In general, you wont see humans doing well above 30atm. 300m is a "holy grail" of sorts for deep diving. Only a handful of people have ever gone that far down. And by a handful, I mean it's been done seven times, total.
NCBI provides a short paper with a theoretical limit of 1000m for humans, based on data we have collected from saturation divers to date. That would be 100atm of pressure.
Somewhere in between is the claimed record for deep diving which is roughly 600m.
Slightly higher than that, we find synthetic testing of Hydreliox. This was done in a chamber compressed to a simulated 700m (70atm). It was found that there were issues with hydrogen narcosis at depths below 500m, no matter how they tweaked the mix.
I cannot find the link, but I came across a fascinating link months ago which described the different gases you can breathe and how deep you can go. At somewhere in the 40m range, you start suffering from nitrogen narcosis, so its beneficial to use a mix without nitrogen to go lower, such as heliox. However, at extreme depths, you start running into helium toxicity issues, and adding a little nitrogen in helps with that. Yes, I said helium toxicity. At high enough pressures, the noble gasses start to kill us, and of the noble gasses, we use helium at those depths because it kills us the least!
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
+1 for a great answer, but it might be nice to point out why it's so surprising that Helium becomes toxic. Or at least add a link. Depressingly I can't actually even find anything about helium toxicity on the web.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 22:52
1
@DRF It's really strange to hear that a noble gas has toxic effects. It had something to do with the nervous system, but I forget what it was. And, like you, I can't find links. It doesn't matter until something like 1000m, and there's not a whole lot of web-indexed content on what happens to the body at that point!
– Cort Ammon
Dec 7 at 23:05
2
Right I assume the strangeness comes from the fact that noble gasses are inert and so you would not expect them to interact in any way other than possibly displacing stuff.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 23:08
These only seven dives to more than 300 m do not include the dives of professional saturation divers using a divers bell at constant pressure for the transfer from surface to ground and back. These seven dives are done with decompression in the water not using a divers bell and saturation diving.
– Uwe
Dec 8 at 14:31
add a comment |
The answers are found in the SCUBA diving world. Diving is interesting in this sense in that 10m is roughly an increase in pressure of 1atm.
In general, you wont see humans doing well above 30atm. 300m is a "holy grail" of sorts for deep diving. Only a handful of people have ever gone that far down. And by a handful, I mean it's been done seven times, total.
NCBI provides a short paper with a theoretical limit of 1000m for humans, based on data we have collected from saturation divers to date. That would be 100atm of pressure.
Somewhere in between is the claimed record for deep diving which is roughly 600m.
Slightly higher than that, we find synthetic testing of Hydreliox. This was done in a chamber compressed to a simulated 700m (70atm). It was found that there were issues with hydrogen narcosis at depths below 500m, no matter how they tweaked the mix.
I cannot find the link, but I came across a fascinating link months ago which described the different gases you can breathe and how deep you can go. At somewhere in the 40m range, you start suffering from nitrogen narcosis, so its beneficial to use a mix without nitrogen to go lower, such as heliox. However, at extreme depths, you start running into helium toxicity issues, and adding a little nitrogen in helps with that. Yes, I said helium toxicity. At high enough pressures, the noble gasses start to kill us, and of the noble gasses, we use helium at those depths because it kills us the least!
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
+1 for a great answer, but it might be nice to point out why it's so surprising that Helium becomes toxic. Or at least add a link. Depressingly I can't actually even find anything about helium toxicity on the web.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 22:52
1
@DRF It's really strange to hear that a noble gas has toxic effects. It had something to do with the nervous system, but I forget what it was. And, like you, I can't find links. It doesn't matter until something like 1000m, and there's not a whole lot of web-indexed content on what happens to the body at that point!
– Cort Ammon
Dec 7 at 23:05
2
Right I assume the strangeness comes from the fact that noble gasses are inert and so you would not expect them to interact in any way other than possibly displacing stuff.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 23:08
These only seven dives to more than 300 m do not include the dives of professional saturation divers using a divers bell at constant pressure for the transfer from surface to ground and back. These seven dives are done with decompression in the water not using a divers bell and saturation diving.
– Uwe
Dec 8 at 14:31
add a comment |
The answers are found in the SCUBA diving world. Diving is interesting in this sense in that 10m is roughly an increase in pressure of 1atm.
In general, you wont see humans doing well above 30atm. 300m is a "holy grail" of sorts for deep diving. Only a handful of people have ever gone that far down. And by a handful, I mean it's been done seven times, total.
NCBI provides a short paper with a theoretical limit of 1000m for humans, based on data we have collected from saturation divers to date. That would be 100atm of pressure.
Somewhere in between is the claimed record for deep diving which is roughly 600m.
Slightly higher than that, we find synthetic testing of Hydreliox. This was done in a chamber compressed to a simulated 700m (70atm). It was found that there were issues with hydrogen narcosis at depths below 500m, no matter how they tweaked the mix.
I cannot find the link, but I came across a fascinating link months ago which described the different gases you can breathe and how deep you can go. At somewhere in the 40m range, you start suffering from nitrogen narcosis, so its beneficial to use a mix without nitrogen to go lower, such as heliox. However, at extreme depths, you start running into helium toxicity issues, and adding a little nitrogen in helps with that. Yes, I said helium toxicity. At high enough pressures, the noble gasses start to kill us, and of the noble gasses, we use helium at those depths because it kills us the least!
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
The answers are found in the SCUBA diving world. Diving is interesting in this sense in that 10m is roughly an increase in pressure of 1atm.
In general, you wont see humans doing well above 30atm. 300m is a "holy grail" of sorts for deep diving. Only a handful of people have ever gone that far down. And by a handful, I mean it's been done seven times, total.
NCBI provides a short paper with a theoretical limit of 1000m for humans, based on data we have collected from saturation divers to date. That would be 100atm of pressure.
Somewhere in between is the claimed record for deep diving which is roughly 600m.
Slightly higher than that, we find synthetic testing of Hydreliox. This was done in a chamber compressed to a simulated 700m (70atm). It was found that there were issues with hydrogen narcosis at depths below 500m, no matter how they tweaked the mix.
I cannot find the link, but I came across a fascinating link months ago which described the different gases you can breathe and how deep you can go. At somewhere in the 40m range, you start suffering from nitrogen narcosis, so its beneficial to use a mix without nitrogen to go lower, such as heliox. However, at extreme depths, you start running into helium toxicity issues, and adding a little nitrogen in helps with that. Yes, I said helium toxicity. At high enough pressures, the noble gasses start to kill us, and of the noble gasses, we use helium at those depths because it kills us the least!
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
edited Dec 7 at 22:18
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
answered Dec 7 at 21:47
Cort Ammon
88448
88448
+1 for a great answer, but it might be nice to point out why it's so surprising that Helium becomes toxic. Or at least add a link. Depressingly I can't actually even find anything about helium toxicity on the web.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 22:52
1
@DRF It's really strange to hear that a noble gas has toxic effects. It had something to do with the nervous system, but I forget what it was. And, like you, I can't find links. It doesn't matter until something like 1000m, and there's not a whole lot of web-indexed content on what happens to the body at that point!
– Cort Ammon
Dec 7 at 23:05
2
Right I assume the strangeness comes from the fact that noble gasses are inert and so you would not expect them to interact in any way other than possibly displacing stuff.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 23:08
These only seven dives to more than 300 m do not include the dives of professional saturation divers using a divers bell at constant pressure for the transfer from surface to ground and back. These seven dives are done with decompression in the water not using a divers bell and saturation diving.
– Uwe
Dec 8 at 14:31
add a comment |
+1 for a great answer, but it might be nice to point out why it's so surprising that Helium becomes toxic. Or at least add a link. Depressingly I can't actually even find anything about helium toxicity on the web.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 22:52
1
@DRF It's really strange to hear that a noble gas has toxic effects. It had something to do with the nervous system, but I forget what it was. And, like you, I can't find links. It doesn't matter until something like 1000m, and there's not a whole lot of web-indexed content on what happens to the body at that point!
– Cort Ammon
Dec 7 at 23:05
2
Right I assume the strangeness comes from the fact that noble gasses are inert and so you would not expect them to interact in any way other than possibly displacing stuff.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 23:08
These only seven dives to more than 300 m do not include the dives of professional saturation divers using a divers bell at constant pressure for the transfer from surface to ground and back. These seven dives are done with decompression in the water not using a divers bell and saturation diving.
– Uwe
Dec 8 at 14:31
+1 for a great answer, but it might be nice to point out why it's so surprising that Helium becomes toxic. Or at least add a link. Depressingly I can't actually even find anything about helium toxicity on the web.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 22:52
+1 for a great answer, but it might be nice to point out why it's so surprising that Helium becomes toxic. Or at least add a link. Depressingly I can't actually even find anything about helium toxicity on the web.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 22:52
1
1
@DRF It's really strange to hear that a noble gas has toxic effects. It had something to do with the nervous system, but I forget what it was. And, like you, I can't find links. It doesn't matter until something like 1000m, and there's not a whole lot of web-indexed content on what happens to the body at that point!
– Cort Ammon
Dec 7 at 23:05
@DRF It's really strange to hear that a noble gas has toxic effects. It had something to do with the nervous system, but I forget what it was. And, like you, I can't find links. It doesn't matter until something like 1000m, and there's not a whole lot of web-indexed content on what happens to the body at that point!
– Cort Ammon
Dec 7 at 23:05
2
2
Right I assume the strangeness comes from the fact that noble gasses are inert and so you would not expect them to interact in any way other than possibly displacing stuff.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 23:08
Right I assume the strangeness comes from the fact that noble gasses are inert and so you would not expect them to interact in any way other than possibly displacing stuff.
– DRF
Dec 7 at 23:08
These only seven dives to more than 300 m do not include the dives of professional saturation divers using a divers bell at constant pressure for the transfer from surface to ground and back. These seven dives are done with decompression in the water not using a divers bell and saturation diving.
– Uwe
Dec 8 at 14:31
These only seven dives to more than 300 m do not include the dives of professional saturation divers using a divers bell at constant pressure for the transfer from surface to ground and back. These seven dives are done with decompression in the water not using a divers bell and saturation diving.
– Uwe
Dec 8 at 14:31
add a comment |
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is
impossible
The maximum tolerated pressure by a diver. It can be over 65 atm or bars.
See: Saturation_diving
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:39
add a comment |
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is
impossible
The maximum tolerated pressure by a diver. It can be over 65 atm or bars.
See: Saturation_diving
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:39
add a comment |
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is
impossible
The maximum tolerated pressure by a diver. It can be over 65 atm or bars.
See: Saturation_diving
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
How much pressure can the human body tolerate before living is
impossible
The maximum tolerated pressure by a diver. It can be over 65 atm or bars.
See: Saturation_diving
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
answered Dec 7 at 17:35
argon
782
782
65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:39
add a comment |
65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:39
65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:39
65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:39
add a comment |
There does not appear to be a maximum pressure. We hit a limit as Cort Ammon says but that is a matter of what we can breathe, not an actual pressure limit. You get poisoned by going too deep, not crushed or torn apart.
Note that this does not preclude a hypothetical liquid breathing system. While we do not know how to build something yet (there are liquids that can carry enough oxygen and are non-toxic. The problem is it would take too much effort for our lungs to move it in and out) this is a technological limit, not a theoretical limit.
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
add a comment |
There does not appear to be a maximum pressure. We hit a limit as Cort Ammon says but that is a matter of what we can breathe, not an actual pressure limit. You get poisoned by going too deep, not crushed or torn apart.
Note that this does not preclude a hypothetical liquid breathing system. While we do not know how to build something yet (there are liquids that can carry enough oxygen and are non-toxic. The problem is it would take too much effort for our lungs to move it in and out) this is a technological limit, not a theoretical limit.
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
add a comment |
There does not appear to be a maximum pressure. We hit a limit as Cort Ammon says but that is a matter of what we can breathe, not an actual pressure limit. You get poisoned by going too deep, not crushed or torn apart.
Note that this does not preclude a hypothetical liquid breathing system. While we do not know how to build something yet (there are liquids that can carry enough oxygen and are non-toxic. The problem is it would take too much effort for our lungs to move it in and out) this is a technological limit, not a theoretical limit.
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
There does not appear to be a maximum pressure. We hit a limit as Cort Ammon says but that is a matter of what we can breathe, not an actual pressure limit. You get poisoned by going too deep, not crushed or torn apart.
Note that this does not preclude a hypothetical liquid breathing system. While we do not know how to build something yet (there are liquids that can carry enough oxygen and are non-toxic. The problem is it would take too much effort for our lungs to move it in and out) this is a technological limit, not a theoretical limit.
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
answered Dec 8 at 1:10
Loren Pechtel
5,8461020
5,8461020
add a comment |
add a comment |
1
If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 at 17:36
1
Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 at 22:35