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Thread: Liquid Breathing

  1. #1

    Liquid Breathing

    I stumbled upon this experimental process where they fill the lungs up with a special liquidized gas. It has promise for diving and medical treatment, and it occurred to me that perhaps someday in the far future this could become safe and common enough to fill a tank with this 'water' and with the correct procedures 'breath underwater' and actually breathe water like a mermaid. I know the odds of this happening in my life time are slim to none the possibility excites me and causes me to wish it to happen now rather then later.

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  2. #2
    There's something like that in the movie The Abyss. It's a very interesting part of a very interesting movie.

    Alveric

  3. #3
    Senior Member Undisclosed Pod
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    I've been dreaming about this stuff for years, even since I heard about it when I was a kid; But I don't believe it has the same buoyancy as water, and thus wouldn't really be workable... I also believe that training to use the stuff takes ages, and the stuff is also really expensive to manufacture in large quantities.

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  4. #4
    But it's a pretty thought of some day

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    wow, amazing

  6. #6
    I would be afraid that as you breathe & move, it might develop "dead" spots where the O2 is depleted. It's not pleasant to think about being at the bottom of the tank and slowly suffocating yourself.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Pod of Cali Neria's Avatar
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    Wow! this would be great if it would really work. Imagine being able to breathe like a real mermaid....

  8. #8
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    ^ I know! Sigh....
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  9. #9
    The problem wouldn't be dead spots in the tank, it would be dead spots in your lungs. Human lungs are designed to move water in and out so it is much more difficult if impossible for enough water to be circulated fast enough to remove Co2 build up in the blood stream. That really seems to be the only major problem they are having for making it useable for divers, there would have to mechanical help to assist in circulating enough fresh water in and out to remove Co2.

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  10. #10
    Fascinating idea! I'd love to see it used medically for breathing and circulatory applications. That would be amazing. I'm a little surprised that I haven't seen anything about this in Popular Science magazine, but maybe I will some time later. Who knows? I wonder how bad the gag reflex would be? I doubt it would be very comfortable, unless perhaps you got used to it.

  11. #11
    Senior Member Pod of Texas taom's Avatar
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    Alveric, you're right about it being in The Abyss. In it, one of the characters says something to the effect that your body once breathed liquid, referring to a child in utero, so that apparently supposed to make it easier to adjust which I find a fascinating thought process.

    What I really want invented are those Re-Breather things from Spy Kids. I think there is something similar in Mermaid Tale, too. It would be awesome if they were really tiny so you could put them in your nose and breathe underwater.

  12. #12
    Actually, our lungs breathe nothing in utero. They're all deflated, like a squeezed sponge. That's why they make the child cry soon after birth, to make sure they've inflated. That character was probably trying to be reassuring. It was a pretty cool flick.

    Alveric

  13. #13
    Rebreathers are getting smaller every day, someday they really might be almost as discreet as the ones in the movies.

  14. #14
    That would be SO cool...a tiny rebreather would be too, since it could produce the same illusion of breathing underwater. I'm guessing that would take a lot less work (energy/money) to maintain too, but I could be wrong since I know virtually nothing about them... Anyway, interesting thought!

  15. #15
    Recently a company started crowdfunding for a sleep apnea device that has no cords or wires. It fits in the nose and is supposedly small enough and light enough to be comfortable for use during sleep. What if the two ideas were combined to where such a device could be 'programmed to draw components from the water (oxygen of course but perhaps others as well) to make the concept possible?

  16. #16
    Senior Member Euro Pod Echidna's Avatar
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    I hated that part in the movie, because in the scene where they "prove" how it works with the pet rat, they hold said rat underwater and drown it.
    It opens its mouth wide, goes into shock and appears to "breathe", but what you see is a creature breathing in water and suffocating right on live screen.

    That's not something I want to see, especially not for a friggin movie.
    Likewise, I hate action scenes where they torture animals (all those horses they trip over so the fall looks "cooler" or whatever the idiotic reason is).

    And the first person who wants to say "it's just a rat, millions are killed every day in cool science labs", please go and put your own head into a water bucket.

  17. #17
    Administrator Pod of Cali malinghi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Echidna View Post
    I hated that part in the movie, because in the scene where they "prove" how it works with the pet rat, they hold said rat underwater and drown it.
    It opens its mouth wide, goes into shock and appears to "breathe", but what you see is a creature breathing in water and suffocating right on live screen.

    That's not something I want to see, especially not for a friggin movie.
    Likewise, I hate action scenes where they torture animals (all those horses they trip over so the fall looks "cooler" or whatever the idiotic reason is).

    And the first person who wants to say "it's just a rat, millions are killed every day in cool science labs", please go and put your own head into a water bucket.
    Don't worry, the rat wasn't killed- they used real liquid flurocarbon in that scene. It was an actual demonstration of liquid breathing!

    Here's the scene from the movie:

  18. #18
    Senior Member Euro Pod Echidna's Avatar
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    You sure?
    Because I saved a drowning rat once (don't ask), and it looked exactly the same.

    Would be nice if it wasn't harmed, of course.
    Sadly I've learned that the label "no animal was harmed in making this thing" is even applied to movies where tons of animals have been killed during action scenes, so I'm always in doubt. :/

    Edit:
    Found some trivia about it.

    The American Humane Association rated this film "unacceptable" because of the rat that was submerged in oxygenated liquid in one scene. It wasn't an effect. The rat really was "subjected to the anxiety of being submerged in this liquid, where it panics and struggles and is then pulled out by its tail as it expels the liquid from its lungs."

    Real oxygenated fluorocarbon fluid was used in the rat fluid breathing scene. Dr. Johannes Kylstra and Dr. Peter Bennett of Duke University pioneered this technique and consulted on the film. The only reason for cutting to the actors' faces was to avoid showing the rats defecating from momentary panic as they began breathing the fluid.
    Fluid breathing is a reality. Five rats were used for five different takes, all of whom survived and were given antibiotic shots by a vet. The rat that actually appeared in the film died of natural causes a few weeks before the film opened. According to James Cameron, the scene with the rat had to be edited out of the UK movie version because "the Royal Veterinarian felt that it was painful for the rat".


    Seems like I'm not the only one disliking that scene
    Other than that, it's an amazing movie that was apparently hell to make.
    The actors were traumatized in the process.

    Some of the cast and crew hated working on the "Abyss" so much that a few special T Shirts were made for the company, Like "Cast member on the "Abuse" " or "Hey, you can't scare me, I've worked for James Cameron" and "Nuclear Missiles, Aliens and James Cameron, talk about an adventure".
    The "you can't scare me"-one really cracked me up.
    This is similar to what Kate Winslet said about working on Titanic.
    She almost drowned during the filming.
    Last edited by Echidna; 07-08-2015 at 06:19 AM.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by SweeteSiren View Post
    Rebreathers are getting smaller every day, someday they really might be almost as discreet as the ones in the movies.
    4 real <3

  20. #20
    that's really freaky

    Quote Originally Posted by malinghi View Post
    Don't worry, the rat wasn't killed- they used real liquid flurocarbon in that scene. It was an actual demonstration of liquid breathing!

    Here's the scene from the movie:

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