Why is the lenght and diameter of a snorkel limited?

Why is the lenght and diameter of a Snorkel limited?

The barrel diameter isn’t really limited but the length is. There’s a simple reason for it. The diaphragm in your chest isn’t designed to haul in a lungful of air if you’re deeper than about 2 feet. The pressure of the water exerted against your body, even at this shallow depth is more than what your diaphragm muscle can deal with. Try it sometime with a short length of hose in a swimming pool. You’ll find you can’t inhale.
Using scuba gear is different because the air is delivered to you under pressure. Your diaphragm doesn’t have to work any harder than it does at the surface. That’s how the regulator works for you.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 1:16 am and is filed under How To Snorkel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Why is the lenght and diameter of a snorkel limited?”

scubabob Says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:41 am
The barrel diameter isn’t really limited but the length is. There’s a simple reason for it. The diaphragm in your chest isn’t designed to haul in a lungful of air if you’re deeper than about 2 feet. The pressure of the water exerted against your body, even at this shallow depth is more than what your diaphragm muscle can deal with. Try it sometime with a short length of hose in a swimming pool. You’ll find you can’t inhale.
Using scuba gear is different because the air is delivered to you under pressure. Your diaphragm doesn’t have to work any harder than it does at the surface. That’s how the regulator works for you.
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Snorkels