A SCUBA diver that descends to 40 meters (132 feet) would be under how many atmospheres of pressure?
One for the atmosphere and one more for each 10 meters of water.
A diver goes down to a depth of 132 feet. How many atmospheres of pressure are on the diver?
I used SI units to perform this calculation, so I did a conversion: 132 feet = 40.2336 metres. Then I used the equation for hydrostatic pressure to find the approximate pressure exerted on the diver at a depth of 40.2336 m: P = ρgh ρ = density of the fluid (Your question never stated whether the diver is in fresh water or salt water, so I'm going to use the practical density of fresh water, which is: 1000 kg/m^3) g = Acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.81 N/kg) h = Depth (In metres) P = Pressure in Pascals => P = (1000 kg/m^3)(9.81 N/kg)(40.2336 m) => P = 394 691.616 N/m^2 1 Pa (Pascal) = 1 N/m^2, so: P = 394 691.616 Pa 1 atm (atmosphere) = 101 325 Pa, so: P = 394 691.616 / 101 325 = 3.85 atm Therefore, the pressure exerted on the diver is approximately 3.9 atmospheres. I say approximately because the salinity of the fluid, and the geometry of the diver also affects the pressure exerted on the diver due to the fluid. --------------------------------------... With respect to the responses below, I'd like to see the sources that specify that at a depth of 132 ft., the pressure is EXACTLY 5 atmospheres. I won't believe it until I see some evidence. --------------------------------------... Ok, thanks Robert M, you're right. If I added 1 atm to the change of 3.85 atm the pressure exerted on the diver at 132 ft. would be 4.85 atm, which is approximately, (but still not exactly), 5 atm.