The Amazing Whale

For your consideration...the following is an excerpt from a radio spot on KAPL radio, Jacksonville, Oregon, called " Akin For the Truth". To listen to the entire spot (a few minutes long), click the little microphone icon....Jack

There you are, looking down at the water from the diving board. Ten feet deep at the drain. In you go, and, as you swim downward against your own buoyancy, you manage to approach the bottom of the pool. As you touch the drain, you notice the pressure. You feel it most distinctly in your ears and sinuses. You briefly touch the pool bottom and its time to head back up for air and normal pressure. Even though the entire trip took only five to ten seconds, it seemed much longer.

The deeper you dive, the greater the pressure. Since water is, say 62.3 pounds per cubic foot, it exerts about 4.4 lbs/square inch on your body while ten feet under water. Seawater is denser than fresh water, but the calculations are the same. And this is in addition to atmospheric pressure of that ocean of air above us, about 14.7 lbs/square inch at sea level.