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How does a diving bell work?

2013-08-08 | 🔗

About 2,400 years ago Aristotle mentions the use of diving bells, apparatuses that convey divers to the bottom of the sea -- or at least below the surface of the water -- and allows them to breathe -- at least until the air runs out. Learn about the physics of this clever and ancient invention and how it's been used to sabotage enemy boats and build the Brooklyn Bridge.

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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
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People like good Lord check, yeah, you got a map as a desk like stepping driving those guilty of a tan map them so arm. Chuck I want to dive into a subject that I believe you know something about hooker, it's called diving Veld said, jack- and I know you know about it, because this article that were basing its offer is a check Brian JAM yeah. I forgot all about this that get about half way through it, and I think that something might say really you didn't realize that you'd written nope totally forgot and then it was a halfway through, but it was probably somewhere in the intro. What was it? You said that silly clever and trap was really not clever Oh I don't know if you like is to start all of my articles like I was writing a middle school term paper, always Thea. Talking about how there's not very many images of our early attempts to Scooby died because quote
the lack of availability of under one filming technique, time here near some, like filler, very, very, very, very, very dear member in summer school with change nine days yet more commonly. Yet they d write like a three hundred word, I say or something like that and somebody they admired ethically Toby, Hooper and area, or was the
special thanks habit. They said, like he was very, very, very, very, very, very very our over those days, counting the words yeah. That's now at this is now notice is a great article on diving. Both it's kind of interesting is the precursor to scuba, diving. If any, you folks other scuba enthusiasts, you have in others a trail that was blaze many years before littered with dead bodies in big iron casks. Yet not just dead bodies, but cripple bodies. To like a lot of bad stuff can happen to you in a lot of bad did happen and people before we really understood the physics of pressure. Yet me people still lose their lives, obviously in the pursuit of just for
technology but not like these two young people you're, like we really have a debt to the people who figured out everything that we have lost their lives going forward. Spectacularly amazing to me is that not everyone died, trying to use diving bells and we're talking like twenty five hundred years ago, yet wasn't and have an early, in twenty right, the apparently by the twelve hundreds, the concept of diving bells were so, I guess entrenched. In the societies around the world. Civilizations around the world that they were just routinely used for all sorts of different stuff. Yeah aerosol wrote about it. They had back in the fourth century BC right, yes, one failure, so he was, he was the first. I take it to mention diving vows, who described them right. Yes, we read. That quote. I think it's a good cop, the yet to read in Aristotle, evil Aristotelian, but I really have no idea what ancient Greek sounded like.
Well. The key is that no one does so you can make it up. They enable divers tourists for higher equally well by letting down a cauldron, for this does not filled with water but retains the air, for it is forced straight down into the water at is added a German. The in the matter and as you see there is an eighty five percent chance that the Greeks we're gonna sell. Shankar are you there was. It sank on it was close, so yes Aristotle's talking about this in the very fact that he is talking about doing both proves that we The idea was in place of the time, the other some legends there, dumb Alexander, the great who is actually student of Aristotle's use. Diving bow either stairs pictures drawings of you, know, Alexander the great like laying down or sitting down beneath the water in some sort of a you know, diving valor, Veronica Barrel or magic bubbles and saw the abbot
We don't know if that means he just talked about it in Latin. Like draw pictures of me doing this or if it is actually tried it, but your well so supposedly he used to one when he was eleven, but then again as an older man during the siege of tyre enough three thirty, two b c and other thought up in it looked like it seems pretty reasonable, like apparently there is some underwater obstructions around tire- and he had some underwater divers removing I'm so he used a diving boldly go check on their work, not the most fantastical tail. Anyone could tell if they're just making stuff up about amusing, diving, well industry, so I can buy that one. I could buy it and, of course, divinity sketch them out because he invented everything. Even if he didn't properly invented Healy sketched out ideas right will you had a lot of great ideas that have come to life? Now? That's true Thea STAR Trek Phaser.
But air startled, he can't hints at the the basic physics behind Diving Valley, says that you have a capsule that you're forcing straight down into a water near the water and the air bubble. Whatever air was inside is pressed upwards along vessel is concave right, yeah and so long as it is straight down. Like you said, you don't want to think. As you know, if you ve ever played in the bathtub- and I know you do you know if you take a carbon inverted
and just push it straight down. There's gonna be water and then, if you want to make make it poop you tilted side in the air comes out and little bubbles. That's true! Disapprove pursued a duck. Did you today, but I think every kid is done stuff like that and that's a centrally what our dining, though, is yeah. It's just really heavy yet because when you have a cup above water upside down has Erin when it context the water, the air can escape any longer because of the water surface. And then, when you push it up, the water compresses, the air, that's right! So that's all you have, like you said at the top of it. I'm well inside is compressed air and human beings can breathe that yeah I didn't have to be, can cater. Does it I don't think so, but only mean them swear later. I think, but I think there needs to be some sort of point that the air can be pressed up into, but maybe not I've seen here, they're concave, so maybe that's the best design for diving about the yet not everybody is used,
cave design, yeah. But many were shaped like bells somewhere barrels like whisky, barrels somewhere wooden, many were iron. There were, they were tryin. All sorts of
this basically just to see that work frightened. They figured out like the heavier the better, because the thing had to be able to go down to get to the bottom of the sea. What whatever depth that was not Tipp over yet it couldn't have over and had to be balance to so you had to have ballasts if you're, using an iron diving ballot yet put weights on it and they had to be balanced, or else it would take overs of a big deal, and I think the key here is this is breathable air like the depends on how deep you are and how big your bell is. Obviously, but I think one example I gave in here was: if you have a ten foot tall Bell down three hundred twenty five feet: that's only about eleven inches of air, but the sun. Now I think they're gone that deep back then. Thirdly, say we're not smart to do so now. Those are the ones that I
that's right. So one of the other problems that these people face aside from dying because they went to deepen, ended up with just eleven inches aware now. We should point out that before we go any further physically speaking, that that's a let by volume, that's eleven inches of air yeah, but that still the same amount of air that filled up the diving bell above water selves, compressive right, it's compressed of compressed air, so all is actually molecules are still there. The disk income pressed form the point. The problem is, if you're in there you're compressed to write and when you're in that state of compression the oxygen in the nitrogen in your bloodstream, get compressed as well. That's right and they d
of which is a problem with the oxygen because the tissues surrounding tissues observe that I've seen they love it, that the army to them, but the nitrogen remains dissolved in the blood until you decompress, then you have a problem. Yes, then you have a radio had did they haven't called the bent it's great and it was the one that preceded, ok, computer soda. A bad album over now is the point that the pillows that you should know listeners. Do you want a new year's resolution? That's easy to keep yes results. To help protect your identity and personal info with lifelong identity theft, protection, lifelong alert you to potential, That's too your identity and they see more, though what you can see by just monitoring your own credit like your info on the door. Web and that's a big deal yeah, and if you have a problem? Lifelong? U S based restoration, specialist snow. The steps to take two
resolve your case. After all, only one in five identity theft, victims who had accounts open in their names discovered their theft through a bank or credit card company Of course, no one can prevent all identity theft or monitor all transactions at all business this but lifelike the new year's resolution does not easy to keep. It will help you protect what you ve worked so hard for get lifelike for up to twenty five percent off your first year, gonna lifelike, dotcom, slash stuff! That's why flocked outcomes less stuff? for up to twenty five percent off. Yet that's what the bans is in that cannot when that, when the nitrogen tries to escape it forms little bubbles yeah that block blood vessels, and that's why you can. I have a stroke or a heart attack if you ascend to quickly and you can go to your joints in car excruciating pain. I imagine crippling member mentioned being crippled before yeah. You suffered the ban
No no earlier, I, like you, said the littered with their bodies incident cripple bodies. I feel like we care about my my lifelong crippling wealth momentarily. I thought you, men had the bad luck. I thought remembered many months ago you mentioning. Driving something about events. I have accelerated out. I've never had the bad. Your poor, scuba cat began, the bends wonder scuba gets around, whose can all already wasn t remember, but that was a winner
her best so yeah when you come to quickly the nitrogen in your blood. Undissolved forms bubbles blocks you're blood vessels, but she joint causes tremendous paint, strokes, death, all stuff. So when you're in ancient fell diver, I guess what you can't impelled over. There seems right, I'm a new or down for very long too deep, came to quickly hearing on a train and they men and it even understood the benefit that point. Imagine they didn't write their like. He just got the diving right again: yeah, it was because he seemed, or something like that of certain, so things when on like this, for quite a while through the renaissance, in the sixteenth century, people are using these diving bells. It was all well and good they're having a blast down there, having parties and then at some point people where I can do it.
We could make this better, how these guys that he burning on air down there and dying here they run on an errand, they have to come up to Quicken, they get the ban. So how can we improve or their only fourteen feet, down Sitting in a bell- and what's the point which is magnificent, but the ship that we need to get to a hundred feet down yeah exactly like they needed this? They they wanted to have applications. They could use like two buildings or repair things. Our get. You know pirates booty exactly in speaking of pirates, Jack Sparrow. Does this with a canoe in the first. Parts of the Caribbean. Yes, yes, he turns a canoe upside down and I walked along the ocean bottom. I don't remember how he pulls the canoe down, technically speaking, it possible, as he pulled it straight down, ethics of the magic of Disney, but I don't think it's it's physically possible.
He did just want to make sure that anybody who really like that part, I poohpooh it So in the late, sixteen hundred those a Frenchman, name Dennis Pepin and he was one of the first deeds etc. You know what I think we can. Get some fresh air into their and very smartly. In simply, he used hoses and bellows that in other bellows were outside. Obviously, upon you know the boat and they had its manning the Bellows and pumping fresh air and their yeah wasn't even like difficult. You didn't even have to navigate like where to put the hole in the top and regarding the Literally just goes on, the bottom end up inside here and in the air. Just press is a super, easy yeah, so you got sure now, yet I can state on their longer throughout all that's all basically, but it's still not pressurized.
The air there pumping innocent pressurize the troops that he can go any deeper yeah they could to state on there and who, with her the heck, they were doing sitting in these cast iron bells so we invent diving bells in at least the fifth century BC. We have to wait until the seventeenth century de there before we make a real innovation to him. Now a whole other obstacle pressurizing these things. How long do we have to wait to overcome now on a year strew? and it took an Englishman to do so. Edmund Howie, he basically attached these wooden barrels he's waited wooden barrels to die though, and they can be brought up and down, and they Jane Eyre at the bottom of each of these as a whole, that allowed water to come in forcing the Arab and at the top was a hose that ran from that barrel too.
The bottom of the diving bell- and there was a faucet so basically whenever it was a sort of like having thanks down there whenever they wanted more pressure, you know they're trying to equalize things. They are destroying their little Fawcett and allow Erin I once a barrel was empty. They would pull the barrels up. I guess refilled them with air which probably met just opening the top in closing it again And then lower back down there and all of a sudden, you could control the pressure. And basically it the equal to that of the surrounding water, so that means you can go deeper. He stayed out longer, you can you you run out like if the water surgically poppy does add more pressurized air, then it pushes the water back down renaissance and it s true. So yes or no, we have pressurized the diamond bells yeah and basically it equal to that of the surrounding water. So that means you can go deeper,
down longer. You can you run out like if the water surgically puppy deserve more pressurize air, then it pushes the water back down like it. It keeps the water pay because it said the same precious to the war. Whatever is inside the diary. Well might the more water yeah it doesnt. Have this crazy urge to fill the diving bell up any longer, because there's something there does Canada goes long happy waited the merry on track, and I bet those some seventeenth century David Blaine very shortly. Afterward was like I can stay down here for two months. People like you, cares, while the horrible thing was when you added pressurized air again your precious metals, the diamond up, but the people here said, have become pressurized to go down and I'm always a pretty horrific thing endure in and of itself Agatha when they built the Brooklyn Bridge to
You know the two towers that that I guess That's the way forward here, those are dead almost to the bedrock there. We're gonna go the bedrock. No, they found out like there's some pretty stable aggregate thirty feet above the drafts of the planet among those, but to construct those they had to drop these huge cases, which are like giant structure, all diving belts and they pressurized them and it can water of the river out, so I could The rivers flowing around the stuff weird but there's men working in these things and they have the pressure before going in, and it was just like this- there is the first once in awhile as they are being pressure. It wasn't like Jane it was I area, you know, I guess it was better than just walking right into the case on, but it was still pretty rough. Then they go and work in there for a couple of hours and then run out and
Hopefully not kid decompression, sickness events, but actually the the project manager, the son of the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, Washington, Rob The sun he suffered a lifeline crippling from the compressing sickness after going in inspecting some of the work in one of the grounds and coming out too quickly A lot of people died and, like I enjoy walking across the Brooklyn Bridge with many new Yorkers do then you should think about that. Next time you doing so yeah, that's like people gave their lives to so you get like say: snarking things and instagram photos for yourself right now, all the other things that you do, some there's a really great kingbirds documentary on the concession of Brooklyn Virtue Amity. Now I'm skip straight up, PBS one no frills, but he's not about frills right. It is moving pictures like around and yes pans in an hour. This may be least really get here.
And that nothing can burn. So I could get kingbirds, though you're probably like this one, so a hundred years after being able to control the pressure with Bellows and that the barrels- I'm sorry an English another Englishmen scientists named John Smeaton Invalid actual diving air pump in seventeen. Eighty eight and it was on the server obviously and took her like four guys to operate it. It was basically like Dennis Poppins original plan, but it was just mechanized, so they were able to build like big ones like people put. Many like twelve people could go down addressing in like have a party if they wanted to. They made windows, eventually yeah they put electors. Yeah, that's little scary. For that time period. Oh you went on and on about a trusted that
wouldn't know in seventeen early eighteen hundred right and we just discovered electricity, now put it in a war and they use them. For, like you, said, building bridges and repairing docks and early saboteurs widow sneak up underwater to cut the anchor lines of enemy ships will does very handy use and dying out so you dug up story about was that this year again here just dismay, may twenty six year Ganem Harris ok, twenty nine year old, nigerian boat cook was on the tugboat Sharon Tugboat, in the Atlantic and capsized in He was eventually through all this. You know rising and tumbling around water flowing in and sinking a hundred feet in thinking, of course, ended and a bathroom trapped with air, yet sort of like the same concept of a diving bill and people wondered he survived that were sixty hours of sixty hours, but fist
were like well. How did this happen? Yelling? You probably should have been able to live that long down there right they were. The press reported that he had something like four feet of air, something and on the other, the He was soon was only about four feet. High, so of sixty hours of air shouldn't have worked. She kept him alive because the about it like you, breathing, even if it is pressure, your breathing air. You also exhaling carbon dioxide and when the the ratio of carbon dioxide in the percentage of it gets about five percent things. You go horribly awry new die shortly. After yeah, I didn't realize that lack of oxygen isn't kills people it's too much. Co2 yeah is pretty
interesting. The can happen when you're on a van, a waiter, that's apparently a big risk when you innovate, somebody's there, the accuracy or to build a loud and kill him so anyway widen this guy back well, it turns out there with pressurized air, especially when it's fun. Against cold water seo too, is readily absorbed by that water around it. So when he was exhaling the oxygen was remaining, but the sea or two with basically being wiped away right and since this year or the other air bubbles. Within was pressurized use a hundred feet under water which actually help them. Right. He had a lot of oxygen, a bunch of oxygen with just pushed into this little area, but the suit was being with away in that's how we managed to survive. Yes said return meters. You discerned one atmospheres pressure of pressures added It makes it more dance, according to some lawmaker name boil according to Boils law
and so since he was thirty metres below it became dense via times, for so that meant that he didn't need as much air as you would think for someone that under underwater- and you know right in Slovenia, like you need thank you, people meters, a day of air, so he only needed you bet meters in the end because of the temperature of the water and how deeply was I am also aiming to remember this water air compressed in say remain area. Always molecules are still present the finnish smaller amount of area. They also think, though, that he was connected to another airport which probably even still the guy survived in an impromptu inadvertent, diving Bell, a hundred feet below the surface for sixty hours stood in the dock, yeah under the ocean with his head next to the toilet, and they said that he could hear the sea.
Scavenging on his dead crew may well, let's horrific they happened. This may not unlike eighteen, twelve in May so. Data by the way will insert this right now, because it's a good place for it. You were you you're out of town it here, but the whole shark NATO thing. Yet you the sharp Meda I invented it yeah, that's pretty impressive check. For those vetoes don't know shark. Nato was a very cheesy movie on a network that aired couple weeks ago in blew up blew up, didn't get as many viewers from the blow up, as I would have hoped, but am I watched it? It was very funny and fine was dumb. I was terrible, but in that way, wasn't gonna go over to you. In all honesty, I am hearing was terrified who were oh yeah she's a rough You mean I were out of the country, and we heard about this about shorten it here. So thank
One of our listeners alerted me the fact that I invented shark NATO because in the desert, can it really rain frogs episode I say this now I mean I think they're like because that's the whole point, even a updraft from a waterspout it two hundred miles an hour is gonna, be picking up in a great white shark that that's a movie for you raining sharks. So thanks to phantom, matters for bringing that my attention. That's impressive. You very clearly aims at a movie you invented short NATO, and this thing was releasing a good year ago. Right, it was, I think, may of two thousand twelve, so those the year before Harrison, okay survives and diving. Well, all sorts of coming together through in the Balkans. When the floor southern African, soon anybody, but I'm looking into it.
You see he should always ask before you to see like, as yeah sure, say, gimme some chemist savage about bread will shorten energies bring back bread for money, bring a little bread here. So they sent me brother liquids whether you know this is why, while shaped like a shark may, we should bring back. Into the regular vernacular and then you ask them that's our plan. I it's a sorry about that. Cyber I just wanna, give myself credit you should be very proud of that, thanks to an hour when a good movie idea comes along, I'm all over it, you and I am hearing If you are more about diving bells, you should take. Those two words into the search bar has therefore that com and it will bring up this delay. Little article written by a young
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Transcript generated on 2020-01-17.