What is the maximum atmospheric pressure a human can tolerate? [duplicate]












4















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  • 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.)?










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marked as duplicate by Mark, peterh, Mark Omo, Dr Sheldon, Nathan Tuggy Dec 8 '18 at 4:24


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  • 1




    If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
    – Uwe
    Dec 7 '18 at 17:36






  • 1




    Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
    – TypeIA
    Dec 7 '18 at 22:35
















4















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.)?










share|improve this question













marked as duplicate by Mark, peterh, Mark Omo, Dr Sheldon, Nathan Tuggy Dec 8 '18 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 '18 at 17:36






  • 1




    Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
    – TypeIA
    Dec 7 '18 at 22:35














4












4








4








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.)?










share|improve this question














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






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asked Dec 7 '18 at 17:02









Wes Spieker

212




212




marked as duplicate by Mark, peterh, Mark Omo, Dr Sheldon, Nathan Tuggy Dec 8 '18 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 '18 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 '18 at 17:36






  • 1




    Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
    – TypeIA
    Dec 7 '18 at 22:35














  • 1




    If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
    – Uwe
    Dec 7 '18 at 17:36






  • 1




    Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
    – TypeIA
    Dec 7 '18 at 22:35








1




1




If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 '18 at 17:36




If high pressure is equal within the human body and the atmosphere no skin will rupture.
– Uwe
Dec 7 '18 at 17:36




1




1




Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 '18 at 22:35




Interesting question, but what are the implications for space exploration?
– TypeIA
Dec 7 '18 at 22:35










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes


















8














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!






share|improve this answer























  • +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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 at 14:31



















6















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






share|improve this answer





















  • 65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
    – Uwe
    Dec 7 '18 at 17:39



















1














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.






share|improve this answer




























    3 Answers
    3






    active

    oldest

    votes








    3 Answers
    3






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    8














    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!






    share|improve this answer























    • +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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 at 14:31
















    8














    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!






    share|improve this answer























    • +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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 at 14:31














    8












    8








    8






    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!






    share|improve this answer














    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!







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Dec 7 '18 at 22:18

























    answered Dec 7 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 at 14:31











    6















    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






    share|improve this answer





















    • 65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
      – Uwe
      Dec 7 '18 at 17:39
















    6















    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






    share|improve this answer





















    • 65 bar is possible using very special breathing gas mixtures only. Using compressed air is impossible at such a pressure.
      – Uwe
      Dec 7 '18 at 17:39














    6












    6








    6







    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






    share|improve this answer













    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







    share|improve this answer












    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer










    answered Dec 7 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 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 '18 at 17:39











    1














    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.






    share|improve this answer


























      1














      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.






      share|improve this answer
























        1












        1








        1






        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.






        share|improve this answer












        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.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered Dec 8 '18 at 1:10









        Loren Pechtel

        5,8661020




        5,8661020















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