Is this plausable?

[DarinMartell]

While doing a google search of the show "1000 ways to die" in regards to another thread I came across this story. I know that each of these shows are supposed to be true stories but I have a hard time believing safeguards are not put into place.

Tanked Girl

[navyhmc]

Even in 1978 not very likely! For starters: 350'? she's either totallty narced out or in Ox Tox. Air has a 2.0 ATA for O2 at 262' the ppATA for air at 350 as reported is 1.44 ATA so she'd probably be in convulsions before she got bent.

Also, there's the issue of where is the Chamber tech? No chamber will be operated without someone at the board the whole time. And a chamber that big will probably have a tech inside with the patient.

I call this one busted!

ETA: I don't think you'ld explode, but you would at the very least have permanent hearing loss, possible a massive stroke and definite pain all over from the immediate DCS you will get.

[wheelman]

Yep, BS.

[Vlane]

They had a discussion on Scubaboard about this a month or so ago and i think for the most part they ruled it fake.

[DarinMartell]

Could the door even be opened with that high of a pressure difference? Would it make a difference what way the door opened?

[waytooslow]

Doors open in, so pressurized you woul dhave to be the hulk top open. Am I wrong -

[navyhmc]

Originally Posted by DarinMartell

Could the door even be opened with that high of a pressure difference? Would it make a difference what way the door opened?

Depends on the chamber.

Most door opens inward. That way even if you have a latch failure, it won't cause explosive decompression. Yes, the way the door opens would make a difference. If it opens inward, the internal pressure of the chamber will help keep it closed and tight. If it opens outward, all that holds the door inplace is the locking/latching mechanism.

Some smaller chambers have doors that do indeed open outward, but the locking mechanism is so over built that it's not an issue-as well as the pressure itself would make opening the door harder than hell all by itself. These are usually limited to 2-3 ATM max pressure.

There are also chambers which have a hybrid door: it opens outward but when closed, it is placed inside the chamber to seal.

ETA: The chamber they are using on the video looks more like an altitude chamber and not a hyperbaric. John Q. Citizen doesn't know the diff.

[BSea]

Originally Posted by DarinMartell

Could the door even be opened with that high of a pressure difference? Would it make a difference what way the door opened?

The door should open in. If it did, it would just about guarantee that this couldn't happen. There would be too much pressure against the door to open it. I can't imagine the design for the door to open outward. This would just invite a blown seal around the door. I'm no engineer, but isn't 1 atmosphere about 14.7 psi? So 7 atmospheres would be 6 times sea level (7 -1 atmospheres). So 6 X 14.7 = 88 psi. Even a small door would be about 24" wide X 48" tall. So that's 1152 square inches X 88 = 101,376 pounds pressing against the door. I don't know about you, but I know I couldn't open it.

As I said, I'm no engineer, and I may be way off base in how these things are calculated, but I still don't think anyone could open the door if it opened in.

[wgt]

The doors of real chambers customarily open in. In a small multiplace chamber, the door might have a surface area of about 450 sq inches (I'll use your earth units). If a chamber is pressurized to 10 fsw, that means there is a force of about 2250 lbs holding the door shut. Therefore, that's how much force that one would need to apply to open the door from the outside. Interestingly, I have seen this happen (once). I wave from Hurricane Lenny opened the door of a chamber that was normally pressurized to 10 fsw. The chamber normally sat about 6 feet above sea level. That means that the incoming wave stood at least 16 feet above sea level after traveling about 50 feet across a parking lot.

The message -- you would have to be very strong to open the door of a chamber, even if it were only pressurized to 1 fsw.

Originally Posted by waytooslow

Doors open in, so pressurized you woul dhave to be the hulk top open. Am I wrong -

[navyhmc]

Originally Posted by BSea

The door should open in. If it did, it would just about guarantee that this couldn't happen. There would be too much pressure against the door to open it. I can't imagine the design for the door to open outward. This would just invite a blown seal around the door. I'm no engineer, but isn't 1 atmosphere about 14.7 psi? So 7 atmospheres would be 6 times sea level (7 -1 atmospheres). So 6 X 14.7 = 88 psi. Even a small door would be about 24" wide X 48" tall. So that's 1152 square inches X 88 = 101,376 pounds pressing against the door. I don't know about you, but I know I couldn't open it.

As I said, I'm no engineer, and I may be way off base in how these things are calculated, but I still don't think anyone could open the door if it opened in.

I'm not an engineer either BSea, but I have it figured about the same as you.

So Double Busted!

I would also thnk that even in 1978 (didn't seemy first chamber until '83) there would be some sort of interlock safety that would prevent this sort of thing from happening. We have to remember that chambers have been around in some sort since the early 1900's.

Triple Busted! And I'll raise you an Urban myth!