Principle and Practice of Basic

SCUBA Diving

By Dr. Yusheng M. Huang

Introduction
Scuba diving is the most unique adventure sport on
earth.
Swimming with marine creatures such as fishes, sea
turtles, whales, or manta rays, etc
Underwater photography (e.g. pictures and video)
History beneath the surface: treasure hunting,
underwater archeology.
More than 70% of the earth surface is covered by water.
Different and diverse experience: shipwreck, tropical
reef, kelp forest, rocky coast, and polar ice diving.

The requirements of being a basic scuba diver:

Good health
Proper equipments
Solid training

What is SCUBA diving?

Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
You scuba dive with a compressed air cylinder or tank that
you wear on your back.
Cylinder (HP) 1st Regulator (LP) 2nd Regulator
(surrounding pressure)

 What is scuba certification?

- No laws governing recreational scuba diving in most
countries.
- You must meet these standards to receive a certification
card (C card; recreational).
- Once you have completed the course and your open
water certification dives, you will be qualified to dive in
conditions similar to those in which you did your open
water certification dives.
- What can you do with the C card? Renting a cylinder,
enjoying a day of diving on a dive boat

 What is NAUI?
- National Association of Underwater Instructor
- Courses: Basic Scuba Diver, Advanced Scuba Diver,
Master Scuba Diver
- Specialty Courses: Rescue diving, Wreck diving, Deep
diving, Underwater photography and video, Ice diving,
Cavern and cave diving, Underwater hunting and
collecting, Night diving, Technical diving.
- Instruction Courses: Assistant Instructor, Instructor,
Course Director

 What are the risks of SCUBA?

- Scuba diving , as a sport, has some risk and you must
understand this before you become a diver.
- Energy consuming: especially in cold water, strong
currents, or make beach entries through surf
- Being injured or killed
- As a diver, you must be willing to accept this risk and
take responsibility for your own actions.
- A little apprehension is normal.
- Misconceptions about diving: How long can I stay in the
water? How do I monitor my air pressure? (submersible
pressure gauge (SPG))
- Most divers carry either an additional regulator or a
totally independent backup air supply.

 What are your obligations?

- Attendance: you have obligation to attend, participate in,
and satisfactorily complete every classroom and water
session.
- Health: physically and mentally
Have a sound heart and healthy lungs.
Have clear ears and sinuses
Be free of any limiting disease or serious ailment.
Be free of any condition that can cause unconsciousness.
DO NOT DIVE!!: asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, pregnancy,
- Fitness: is the ability to meet the physical demands of a
particular activity.

- Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Substances such as alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine,
which alter your physiology and affect your ability to think
clearly, should never be used before diving.
Complete your treatment before diving.
If you are ill and do not feel well enough to dive without
taking a drug, you should not dive, even if you feel fine
with medication. The effects of drugs can be changed by
pressure in unpredictable ways.

Ch 2 Diving Equipment
Basic personal equipment: Mask, fins, snorkel, wetsuit,
boots, and weight belt.

Scuba Diving Equipment:

Cylinders
Regulators
Buoyancy Compensator (BC)
Accessory Equipment

Cylinders
Scuba cylinders (bottles or tanks) allow you to store
large amounts of air in a small space.
The air in a scuba cylinder is highly compressed. (120 to
310 bar; 1 bar = 1 atm = 14.7 psi (pounds per square
inch))
Cylinders are made of aluminum or steel
- Aluminum: do not rust, easily damaged
- Steel: rust, but more resistant to exterior damage
Sizes: from 10 18 liters cylinder or 63 95 cubic feet

 Markings:
Regulatory
Agency

Type
Working
Pressure

Serial
Number

Manufacturer

Test date

Test date

Size

 Accessories: boot, plastic net, etc

Valves: K valves, J valves, DIN valves
- K: most popular, working pressure about 200 bar, O-ring
between the regulator and valve.
- J: were popular before SPGs.
- DIN: originated in Europe, working pressure more than
200 bar
- Safety design: burst disks
- Maintenance: visual inspection and hydrostatic testing
- Storage: you should store cylinders for any long term
with some pressure in the cylinder. ** Never leave a
cylinder standing by itself when you are not holding it.**

Regulators
The scuba regulator is a mechanical device that delivers
air to you on demand. One function of the regulator is to
reduce the high pressure of the air in the cylinder to the
ambient pressure, or the pressure surrounding your
body, so you can breathe it.
Parts: First stage, second stage, additional regulator
second stages, gauges, computers.

 First Stage:
- in the first stage, the high-pressure air from the cylinder
is reduced to approximately 10 bar (150 psi) above the
pressure surrounding the cylinder.
- Number of outlets or ports to which hoses and pieces of
equipment are attached.
High Pressure outlet/port: connect to SPG
Low Pressure outlet/port: A power-inflator hose for BC, an
alternate second stage or octopus regulator, a dry suit
power-inflator hose (if used)

 Second Stage
- The second stage has a mouthpiece
- Further reduce the air pressure from about 10 bar to
whatever the ambient pressure is.
- Flow/breath resistance
- If you plan to learn to do deep, wreck, cave , or ice diving
or do underwater hunting, you will want a highperformance regulator.
- Alternate air sources: Octopus regulators, Air-2 (a
combination regulator and power-inflator for the BC),
contingency Scuba (totally independent regulator and air
supply) 1. pony bottle 2. smaller cylinder with
regulators


1.

2.

Gauges: Divers must rely on gauges and instruments

to tell them depth, bottom time, direction, and air
supply.
Dive console: an enclosure molded with slots to hold a
SPG, depth gauge, and compass.
SPG displays the amount of air pressure remaining in
your scuba tank. SPGs can also be integrated in dive
computers and measure pressure electronically. Some
air-integrated dive computers can also monitor your
breathing rate and predict how long the air in your
cylinder will last based on your breathing rate.
Depth gauge: your depth and the duration of your dive
at any particular depth are limited by a number of
factors, so you need to monitor your depth when
diving.

Depth gauge (continue)

4 types: Capillary tube, bourdon tube, diaphragm
mechanism, and electronic gauge.
Compass
When you are swimming under water and visibility is poor,
a compass is an important reference instrument, if not
essential.
A diving compass must:
1. Be filled with liquid to withstand pressure and dampen
needle movement under water
2. Have a reference line, called a lubber line, used as the
direction of travel
3. Have a means, such as a rotating bezel, to show a
selected bearing or direction

Additional diving instruments

1. Timing devices: diving watches or timer
Water and pressure resistant (100M)
To measure elapsed time: rotating bezel around the
dial or stopwatch feature
1. Dive computers
Most convenient method of keeping track of your
bottom time as well as your depth
A typical dive computer records or displays: maximum
depth, current depth, actual dive time, remaining
allowable dive time
1. Backup instrumentation

Buoyancy Compensator (BC)

BCs enable you to control whether you float on the
surface of the water, hover in the water, or sink to the
bottom. How?
All BCs are made of durable material that can hold air
and are designed for rugged use.
Equipped with : overpressure relief valve, inflator/deflator
hose, power-inflator mechanism, and deflator/oral inflator
valve with mouthpeice.

Low pressure
hose
LP hose and
poweredinflator
connector

Inflator/deflator
hose
Inflating bottom

deflating bottom

Oral Inflating
mouthpiece

Different types of BCs: back flotation, Jackets, and Horse

collars.
- Back flotation: entire air bladder is behind the diver;
popular for underwater photography; difficult to swim on
the surface.
- Jackets: most popular BCs; comfortable to wear; provide
good trim under water; float you upright on the surface.
- Horse collars:
- Integrated weight systems: Pros and cons?
Pros: no need to wear weight belt, the weights cannot slide
around your body, the weight is not supported solely by
your lower back
Cons: too heavy to be handled.

Selection: try it on and make sure its comfortable.

Maintenance: you should rinse your BC internally and
externally after each diving day. How?
Accessory Equipment
- Attachment devices
- Knives
- Gear bags
- Dive flags and Floats
- Logbooks
- First aid kits
- Other accessories