Scuba Diving History
When it comes to diving we mainly have in mind some highly technically advanced equipment, fast motorboats and safe inhalation systems. But the history of diving as a human activity can be traced back more than five thousand years. The first man, who sacrificed himself to the big blue was called Scyllis. We learn about him from the Greek historian - Herodotus - telling about the Persian King Xerxes who had attempted to recover a sunken treasure by hiring Scyllis. Considering ancient reports about divers used by such a great emperors as Alexander the Great, or Xerxes, we may say that diving was previously treated in connection with financial and tactical advantages. Nonetheless, the insatiable thirst of exploring the unknown environment has contributed to the evolution of diving equally as much during the centuries.
Off course, the basic limits of early diving were technological limits. Ancient divers had obviously to deal with inability to inhale against the pressure of water. It is to be sad though, that they were also limited to small depths. We should remember that at depths as little as three feet, it is impossible to breath trough a tube because of the nearly three hundred kilos of pressure that water exerts upon a diver’s chest. The revolution, which transformed early diving into modern diving happened at the turn of the nineteenth century, when the pump cable and diving dress were developed. Nowadays, diving is highly reinforced by modern science and technology.
One of the vital problems among people concerned about diving some years ago, was freedom form a support vessel. This required the diver be provided with his (or her) own portable air supply which would allow them to move independently. However, the SCUBA development was delayed by the lack of compressors able to supply sufficient pressure, and by the need of portable cylinders of adequate strength. Finally, after many years of experiments first prototype model of scuba occurred. As we may expect people who used it were in many cases risking their life. Eventually, SCUBA evolved into three-type technology.
And, for now on, we can say that we have open circuit SCUBA, closed circuit SCUBA, and semi-closed circuit SCUBA. Also the technology of breathing gases used in scuba diving evolved among years. At the beginnings of entire diving they used atmospheric air, in nineteenth century - air under pressure, nowadays - we have some unique mixes of oxygen and nitrogen, such as, for instance - Nitrox.
About the Author:
Kamil Wojtys is Director of scuba diving web site.
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- Draft created on January 10, 2008 at 7:26 am
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