Breathing Underwater

Yesterday night I finally went to watch Star Wars Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith, and I think its a great show, worth every cent of the ticket price I paid. Personally, if you don't get the story, I think you can watch it just for all the action scenes, and if you know the Star Wars story, you'll get the chance to find out how Darth Vader came about as well. So although the dialog between the characters is not that good, and the way the scenes jump from one to the other made the movie a little more confusing, I think that overall, this movie is one of the better one's I've watched recently.

Anyway, if you have watched Star Wars you'd probably have seen the breathing apparatus that the Jedi Knights used to breathe under water. Well, coincidentally I saw this article today on the development of a new invention that allows people to breathe underwater without the cumbersome air tanks.

The inventor of this is Alan Izhar-Bodner, an Israeli inventor. Basically the system uses the "Henry Law" which "states that the amount of gas that can be dissolved in a liquid is proportional to the pressure on the liquid." Hence, if you reduce the pressure of any liquid, it will release the gas that is dissolved inside. This is apparently what the apparatus does. It supposedly takes in some sea water, passes it through a centrifuge to lower the pressure in the water and extracts the released air, that's it.

Currently, the invention has only just been patented, but I am sure it will become commercialised soon. The military would probably be the first to use this, if they don't already have something like this, but I think regular people like you and me will probably get our chance a few years later. Just enough time for me to get a diving license.

The device is also quite big, nothing like the pencil-like breathing stick that the Jedi Knights use in the movie. But, miniaturisation is always the future of most technology, just look at the history of computers. So hopefully, 10 years down the road, I'll be able to go for a dive with my family in a public pool, by just sticking a silver cylinder across my mouth...

Alan Izhar-Bodner, an Israeli inventor, has developed a way for divers to breathe underwater without cumbersome oxygen tanks. His apparatus makes use of the air that is dissolved in water, just like fish do.

The system uses the "Henry Law" which states that the amount of gas that can be dissolved in a liquid is proportional to the pressure on the liquid. Raise the pressure - more gas can be dissolved in the liquid. Decrease the pressure - gas dissolved in the liquid releases the gas. This is exactly what happens when you open a can of soda; carbon dioxide gas is dissolved in the liquid and is under pressure in the can. Open the can, releasing the pressure, and the gas fizzes out.

Bodner's system apparently uses a centrifuge to lower pressure in part of a small amount of seawater taken into the system; dissolved gas is extracted.

Click here for the full article.