Oil, Sweat, and Rigs

[sweetasssam]

I watched this show with my sister last night on Discovery Channel. It was way sweet! They need to use highly trained saturation divers, who have to live in a teeny-ass compression chamber for anywhere from 15-45 days! They have to stay at the pressure of the lowest point they will dive this entire period of time. In the case we watched they were working at 500 ft below sea level. This may not sound all that deep, but bear in mind that 33 feet of water equals 1000 ft. of air pressure. They live in this small chamber with a few other men, no privacy, and a camera in every room to monitor the health of the divers. At these pressures, they cannot breathe regular air, so they have to use a breathing gas that combines helium into the mix. So not only are these men trapped in this tiny enclosure with no privacy, but the helium distorts their voice, much like sucking on a balloon in a birthday party. Oh, and the helium makes it so they can't taste any of their food, either. I'd freak out! Even worse, if one were to freak out, it still takes anywhere from 4 to 7 days to decompress, or the diver would die. AND when they go to work on whatever it is they do at the bottom of the sea, they can be down there for up to ten hours! This is not the job for me. In fact, it gave me nightmares last night. The only sweet thing is the pay: $7,000/week.

There is your edumacation for the day, courtesy of sweetasssam.