Thursday
Feb262009
Under Pressure
Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 03:11AM
A previous post focused on the heavens, the world above us. It is unfathomably large, with no edge, and thus no center (not considering the esoteric theories of multiple universes). It's everywhere there is a "where," without edge, center, border or (bizarrely) dimension (no up, down, east or west).
What lies outside this universe? Likely nothing, because there likely is no "outside." And what about the content of this unimaginably large universe? Well, the "billions and billions" of stars popularized by Carl Sagan is just the beginning. The number of stars and rocks and lanes of dust and only God knows what else is so large as to have no meaning, really. Go ahead and add more zeros, it doesn't matter.
But we shouldn't forget to look down as well as up. If you've ever been SCUBA diving, you'll know what I mean: there is a fantastical world just under the surface of the seas. Sea anemones, eels, octopi, sharks, barracuda, coral of every color, clown fish, lobster, puffer fish, starfish, whale sharks, shrimp, sea snakes, angel fish, cod, crabs...the list goes on.
But when you go deeper, much deeper, things get very, very bizarre. Physically, two big things happen. First, all light disappears. Complete and utter darkness, as if light never existed. Secondly, the pressure. As any SCUBA diver can also tell you, every 33 feet of depth in water equals "one atmosphere" of pressure (the weight of the column of water above your head at 33 feet weighs the same as the column of air above your head at sea level). As I sit here typing, I'm experiencing just slightly less than 14.7 pounds of pressure per square inch - one atmosphere (it would be right at 14.7 lbs/in2 if at sea level; since I'm slightly at altitude, the column of air above me is shorter and, thus, not as heavy). If I descend 10,000 feet into the ocean, the pressure on my body goes from 14.7 lbs/in2 to almost 2.25 tons/in2!
If you think back to your favorite physics or chemistry or physical science class, you'll remember that liquids are practically incompressible. Therefore, anything made of liquid thrown into such deeps would escape destruction. You could throw a water balloon overboard, let it sink to 10,000 ft., and pull it back up intact. Different story, though, if air is involved. Air is highly compressible and such pressures would reduce any volume of air into a tiny space. If you were to take a big gulp of air and plunge into the depths, your lungs would collapse long before you reached even a tiny fraction of 10,000 feet. All the air in your lungs (and in your sinus cavities, joints, everywhere) would just compress down to nothing. At those pressures, air is lethal.
(This is why submersibles, which travel to extreme depths, are such sturdy vessels. The air inside the vessel - one atmosphere - must withstand the crushing force of tons/in2.)
The consequences of such extremes pressure on living things are both microscopic and macroscopic. Microscopically, cells and membranes, even chemistry, is affected. Life processes work differently. Creatures of the deep don't do well at low pressures (say, at the surface) as their bodies just aren't set up for it. Macroscopically, these animals are pretty void of air or other gasses. They are mostly small and oddly shaped, many without eyes (there's no light by which to see).
But, for the purposes of this post, the point I want to make is this: these seldom-seem creatures rival anything in the heavens in terms of their bizarre, exotic, wondrous nature. Things we can hardly imagine exist down in the deeps, fantastic cartoons of nature. God really went all out with these deep dwellers, and truly rewards those who make the effort to get down there. Here is a sampling of some of our sea-floor friends (I particularly like the one labeled "species unknown"...how many things are down there we've yet to see?):
(Click on any single photo to launch a slideshow...it works better than clicking the "show as slideshow" method.)
[nggallery id=6]
What lies outside this universe? Likely nothing, because there likely is no "outside." And what about the content of this unimaginably large universe? Well, the "billions and billions" of stars popularized by Carl Sagan is just the beginning. The number of stars and rocks and lanes of dust and only God knows what else is so large as to have no meaning, really. Go ahead and add more zeros, it doesn't matter.
But we shouldn't forget to look down as well as up. If you've ever been SCUBA diving, you'll know what I mean: there is a fantastical world just under the surface of the seas. Sea anemones, eels, octopi, sharks, barracuda, coral of every color, clown fish, lobster, puffer fish, starfish, whale sharks, shrimp, sea snakes, angel fish, cod, crabs...the list goes on.
But when you go deeper, much deeper, things get very, very bizarre. Physically, two big things happen. First, all light disappears. Complete and utter darkness, as if light never existed. Secondly, the pressure. As any SCUBA diver can also tell you, every 33 feet of depth in water equals "one atmosphere" of pressure (the weight of the column of water above your head at 33 feet weighs the same as the column of air above your head at sea level). As I sit here typing, I'm experiencing just slightly less than 14.7 pounds of pressure per square inch - one atmosphere (it would be right at 14.7 lbs/in2 if at sea level; since I'm slightly at altitude, the column of air above me is shorter and, thus, not as heavy). If I descend 10,000 feet into the ocean, the pressure on my body goes from 14.7 lbs/in2 to almost 2.25 tons/in2!
If you think back to your favorite physics or chemistry or physical science class, you'll remember that liquids are practically incompressible. Therefore, anything made of liquid thrown into such deeps would escape destruction. You could throw a water balloon overboard, let it sink to 10,000 ft., and pull it back up intact. Different story, though, if air is involved. Air is highly compressible and such pressures would reduce any volume of air into a tiny space. If you were to take a big gulp of air and plunge into the depths, your lungs would collapse long before you reached even a tiny fraction of 10,000 feet. All the air in your lungs (and in your sinus cavities, joints, everywhere) would just compress down to nothing. At those pressures, air is lethal.
(This is why submersibles, which travel to extreme depths, are such sturdy vessels. The air inside the vessel - one atmosphere - must withstand the crushing force of tons/in2.)
The consequences of such extremes pressure on living things are both microscopic and macroscopic. Microscopically, cells and membranes, even chemistry, is affected. Life processes work differently. Creatures of the deep don't do well at low pressures (say, at the surface) as their bodies just aren't set up for it. Macroscopically, these animals are pretty void of air or other gasses. They are mostly small and oddly shaped, many without eyes (there's no light by which to see).
But, for the purposes of this post, the point I want to make is this: these seldom-seem creatures rival anything in the heavens in terms of their bizarre, exotic, wondrous nature. Things we can hardly imagine exist down in the deeps, fantastic cartoons of nature. God really went all out with these deep dwellers, and truly rewards those who make the effort to get down there. Here is a sampling of some of our sea-floor friends (I particularly like the one labeled "species unknown"...how many things are down there we've yet to see?):
(Click on any single photo to launch a slideshow...it works better than clicking the "show as slideshow" method.)
[nggallery id=6]
Reader Comments (1)
Awesome!