Liquid Breathing

[Mermaid Sirena]

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.

Wiki explanation.

[Alveric]

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

Alveric

[Moonflower]

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.

[Mermaid Sirena]

But it's a pretty thought of some day

[AniaR]

wow, amazing

[SweeteSiren]

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.

[Neria]

Wow! this would be great if it would really work. Imagine being able to breathe like a real mermaid....

[Mermaid Saphira]

^ I know! Sigh....

[Mermaid Sirena]

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.

[Amphitrite]

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.

[taom]

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.

[Alveric]

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

[SweeteSiren]

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

[Mer Maid Lexi]

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

4 real <3

[LittleTreasure]

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!

[Amphitrite]

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?

[Echidna]

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.

[malinghi]

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:

[Mer Maid Lexi]

that's really freaky

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:

[Mermaid Jaffa]

that's really freaky

When I first watched that movie, I closed my eyes at that scene. Its too horrible, and made me sick.

Recent reruns, I still do the same thing as the first round. Its disgusting what they did to the rat. And I'm not a fan of rats.