Humans can't snorkel very deeply. The pressure needed to draw air deeply underwater collapses our lungs at a very shallow depth, but, what if you brought the surface down with you?

As you descend beneath the surface of the water a small electric motor activates an impeller on the snorkel's shaft just above your head, but a good ten centimetres or so beneath the one way valve intake, at the top of the snorkel.
Hydro sensors running the length of the tube control the rate at which you can descend based on how far you've dragged the surface air down with you in the form of a tornado.

Would the air still be sucked from your lungs if you'd mechanically pumped it down to a level where a snorkel could reach it? We used to use helmets and compressors.
Could underwater habitats refresh air supplies in such a way? Could submarines?

...and why can't I find any science on this? What search terms am I unaware of?
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 06 2024

Okay, cool, but could you drag the surface air down to yourself without any surface support whatsoever and without the umbilical cord by creating an air-spout down to your depth using an impeller?

How deep an air-well can be created with an impeller?... and in how large a body of water?... and at what temperatures and pressures?
Where's the science?
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 06 2024


Its a clever notion to use the impeller to create a whirlpool and therefore a long air spout. But the air inside the bottom of the spout will be at atmospheric pressure, surely? And your lungs will be compressed by the depth of water. So this is no different pressure-wise from simply having a very long snorkel tube.
-- pocmloc, Mar 06 2024


Yup, this is the same as having a long snorkel tube (and it wouldn't work, for exactly the same reasons)
-- hippo, Mar 06 2024


If the impeller were beneath the diver, so that the diver's lungs and head were entirely within the air spout, then breathing may be possible.
-- pocmloc, Mar 06 2024


Ah, see I was unsure if the reason a person could only snorkel shallowly was because of external pressure on the lungs, or the difficulty in drawing air down past that depth.

<gives internal projector a smack>

Could this air-spout effect be used to resupply underwater habitats with fresh air by drawing the air down to be compressed?
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 06 2024


It is impossible to breath through an open pipe to the surface from any depth over ±2'. I've tried. The air supplied to the lungs MUST be virtually identical in pressure to the surrounding water pressure. 1 additional atmosphere every 33 feet. 14.7lb/sq.in over the surface of your body. Fighting that by inhaling through a tube at any depth is very stress-inducing, verging on panic. It takes our diaphragm working at the surface to breath at only 1 atmosphere anyway. SCUBA tanks are pressurized to 3000+ psi so they can deliver air at depth. Air feels like syrup at 200'.
-- minoradjustments, Mar 07 2024



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