Final Draft of Proposal for Scuba Diving

Executive Summary:
Studies show that the more experienced a diver is, the more likely they are to have an accident. Experienced divers think they can cut corners, that the rules are for beginners; what they do not realize is that diving rules are grounded on human physiology and physics. No matter how experienced or physically fit a diver is, there are limits the human body cannot pass. This document will prevent diving accidents resulting from the failure to follow the rules by making the fundamental physiological and physical laws behind the rules of diving comprehensible to all so that divers internalize them.

Introduction:
Many people discover the underwater world and learn the basic rules of diving. However, very few people understand that the sources of the diving rules are very simple physiological and physical laws. Consequently many don’t internalize the rules, underestimate their values, take risks and eventually have an accident. The purpose of this document is to make the fundamental physiological and physical laws comprehensible to all so that the diving rules become meaningful to divers and are fully internalized.
60% of recreational diving accidents happen to experienced or very experienced divers (levels 3 to 5 and instructors) with a median age of 34 years. These divers knew the rules, were officially sanctioned as good and proficient divers, yet did not understand enough the fundamental nature of these rules and chose to ignore them.
As a result, this document will review the fundamental laws of diving with a strong emphasis on clarity and basic understanding. Each law is concluded with a real life application to diving, allowing the reader to deepen their understanding of the law. A table that summarizes the list of accidents versus the laws involved along with a one page summary will conclude the document. This document will approach the rules of diving not from a moralistic point of view nor from a legalistic point of view but from a fundamental physics law point of view to allow better comprehension and internalization of the rules.
Searching on the internet, I found sites with advice by experienced divers and sites which required the reader to have great technical skills in the field of biology, physiology, and physics. I did not find a site that showed the fundamental physics, biology, and physiology behind diving and did not present the technical information in a way that was easy to comprehend at the high school level without having technical expertise in the field.

Body:
• Current Situation
o In the book, Open Water Diver by the SSI, there are 15 pages dedicated to the understanding of physiology (half on basic physiology and half on the symptoms) out of 214 pages. Only three percent of the book is spent on understanding the physiology of diving, and it does not include any physics about diving.
o According to the May 2007 issue of Undercurrent, there are no concrete figures for the number of newly certified divers each year and for the number of active US divers (active divers are defined as divers who are diving five or more times a year). However, Ben Davison, publisher of the newsletter, Undercurrent, estimates that there are 1.2 million active divers plus or minus 15 percent.
o The same physiological and physics laws apply to most accidents when they happen. They happen because people fail to follow basic rules not because they are unknown but because their values are not understood.
 According to the yearly report by the FFESSM (Federation Francais d’Etudes et de Sports Sous-Marins) in 1998, 40 percent of accidents that occurred were by divers ranging from level 3 to 5. (French scuba diving levels are as follows: Beginner, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5.) 80 percent of accidents were from decompression sickness. There were 320 diving accidents recorded.
 In the Statics of Diving Accidents by Dr. Bruno Grandjean, the chart shows diving statics from 1995 to 2004. You see a general trend where over 40 percent of diving accidents happen to level 3 to 5 divers and instructors each year.
 The Statics of Diving Accidents by Dr. Bruno Grandjean showed 335 diving accidents in the year 2004. Of the 335 diving accidents that were recorded, 21 percent were due to errors in the procedure. Errors in procedures include running out of air and ascending to the surface too quickly.

• Project Plan / Methodology
o Intro
o Table of contents
o Physiology
 Blood (hemoglobin carries O2 and CO2)
 Circulation of blood in the body (blood going to the tissues is 500 m2 of capillary veins)
 Breathing (lung capacity, exchange of CO2/O2)
o Physics
 Archimedes
• Experimental test
• Principle
• Application to diving
 Notions of mass, density and weight
 Notions of pressure
• Force exerted by a solid
• Force exerted by a the air
• Force exerted by a liquid
• Hydrostatic pressure experimental test
• Fundamental principal of hydrostatic
∆p = pN – pM = omega * h = ro * g * h
Where:
pN = pressure at point N
pM = pressure at point M
Omega = weight of the volume of liquid
Ro = weight of the volume of mass
h = difference of elevation between the horizontal plane containing N and the horizontal plane containing M
g = Earth’s gravity
• Absolute pressure
 Boyle-Mariotte Law
• Experimental test
• Law
At constant temperature, the volume V of a gas varies inversely proportional to the absolute pressure
P1*V1 = P2*V2
• Application to diving
o Lung Volume
o Diving Time
o Floatability
o Computation Tables
 Dalton’s Law
• Experimental test
• Law
“At a given temperature, the absolute pressure of a mixed gas is equal to the sum of the partial pressure that these gas would have they occupied alone the total volume.”
pa = absolute pressure of the mixed gas
pp = partial pressure
The partial pressure of a gas from a mixture is equal to the product of the total pressure of the mixture multiplied by the volume percentage of the gas under consideration
pp = X/100 (percentage volume) * pa
• Application to diving
 Mechanism of gas dissolution in a liquid
• Experimental test
Open a soft drink bottle or a bottle of Champagne and watch the bubbles rise up
• Henry’s Law
“At constant temperature and at saturation, the quantity of gas dissolved per unit of volume in a liquid is proportional to the pressure of the gas above the liquid”
• Tension
p = kC
Where
p = pressure of gas,
C = concentration of gas in solution
k = constant of Henry relative to couple gas/liquid
• Under saturation, saturation, over saturation
• Tissues
• De-saturation – Over-saturation
 Temperature
• Water temperature impact
 Optical underwater
• Description
• Application to diving
 Sound
• Diving
o Conclusion
o Edition
o Index

• Qualifications
o As a Diver
 Certified SSI (Scuba Schools International) diver
 Dived in the US and in France.
 Enjoy being around and going into the water
 Know French and American scuba diving instructors who can give me insights into advanced scuba diving rules and experiences
o Scientific Knowledge
 Engineering student
 Mastered all the basic physics and physiological concepts that are used in this document
 Took a math course in differential equations
o Capacity to organize for comprehension
 Demonstrated communication skills in four different languages
 Capacity to adapt the message to the level of understanding of my recipients
 Examples
• Explaining to Mexican workers different ways to improve efficiency
• Presenting to the manager of the factory different wa

• Timeline
o Sept 14 – Sept 28
 Physics
• Archimedes
• Notions of mass, density and weight
• Notions of pressure
• Boyle – Marriotte Law
• Dalton’s Law
• Mechanism of gas dissolution in a liquid
• Temperature
• Optical underwater
• Sound
o Sept 29 – Oct 5
 Introduction
 Table of Contents
 Conclusion
 Edition
 Index
 Physiology
o Oct 6 – Oct 10
 Research
• Examples
• Drawings
o Oct 13 – Oct 16
 Final Review
Conclusion:
Focusing on basic fundamental laws and their application to diving is a theme that will be used throughout the document to obtain a better comprehension of the rules. This will allow the reader to internalize the rules, and be less inclined to take risks and skip the rules when nobody is around to enforce them.
This document will make an effort to use graphics by borrowing heavily from the internet to reinforce the text’s message. Examples for each law will help the reader compute real life examples.
Most, if not all, of the information found on the internet is very technical and detailed or would give rules and then answers without explaining how the answers were derived. The reader is expected to know complicated math and have significant knowledge of physiology and biology. This document is unique because it attempts to cover all the fundamental laws of physiology and physics that are available at the high school level and makes them understandable and applicable for diving. There are no expectations of high level biology, math, and physics knowledge. This document will provide the answers and the methods to which the answers are found.
May this document prevent accidents for all of us that “know better” or don’t have time to memorize “the rules”.