Beyond Titan - physics and the deep sea

[TokyoStories]

Continuing our crash course in all things deep-sea.

I'm glad they located it.

Oh well done, I also started one so will link this one on there. Oops! I shoulda checked!

Thanks, @TokyoStories and @MavisMcMinty - it was well meant.

Oh just seen yours @MavisMcMinty (btw, we know each other from the talk thread where I post under a different name… but I haven’t posted there in ages - hello!) I was worried it was going to reach 1000 without a link so scrambled to create one, whoops.

Did exactly the same panicked thing and got the 1000th post!

(Wish I knew who you were though.)

Do you think this is the end of deep sea tourism?

I haven't really contributed but I've read all 5 of the previous threads and really enjoyed all the info (although ofc very sad about what happened to those poor people). I ended up looking into other things too like the Byford Dolphin disaster and the Nutty Putty Cave incident. I've never been very good at science but I'm trying to wrap my head around some of the info about pressure etc.

I have PM’d you!

No, but I hope it becomes more regulated! I think there will always be an allure to extreme tourism, its just that companies will spend more ensuring the safety of the crafts and I expect it'll be a huge selling point.

No. If anything I think it’s probably sparked more interest in the idea.

Yes I suppose now people are aware it is a thing
I hope not for a while though.

⚓️

Dropping anchor so I don't lose the thread, having lurked on the Titan threads and learnt loads of stuff I didn't even know I wanted or needed to know.

learnt loads of stuff I didn't even know I wanted or needed to know.

Sums it up! My degree is biology-based but all of this has made me very curious about elements of physics, which I’ve always been intimidated by.

Thanks for the thread.

I have an interest in physics as well as a love of the sea. I used to do scuba diving. I also am interested in human psychology and what we can learn from mistakes and attitudes.

I do recommend Tim Harfords Cautionary Tales - he has some really good examples of how things have gone wrong in the past and what can be learnt from them.

I was thinking about the sub in the Canary Islands and if they have been affected by this. Things can go wrong - have they prepared for things that they think could go wrong?

Place marking by recommending Cindy Lee Van Dover's book Deep Ocean Journey's, might be a bit hard to find now, but it pops up on second hand book sites now and then. Cindy is a professor at Duke University and was Alvin's first female pilot.

Same here.

The Nutty Putty cave death in particular was harrowing!

I once worked in a firm that designed, manufactured and installed electrical connectors at deep sea levels for oil/gas extraction. I was fascinated by the technology that went into connectors that would stand the pressure and prevent ingress of sea water through the various interfaces (i.e. wire into the connector, connector pins and sockets etc), and to stop the connector imploding under the immense pressure. The smallest/simplest connector was huge and very heavy and cost thousands of pounds - the technology that went into it was very impressive. More complicated connector systems (stab plates and what they called Christmas Trees) could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and be the size of a shipping container. That was just the connectors and cabling for power, monitoring systems, etc.

In the conference room, they had "cut away" versions where half had been cut/sliced off and you could see the inner working - fascinating stuff, even if I didn't understand most of it (I was their accountant!). The basic idea was a tiny hole (like in the side of a biro) that allowed pressure "into" the body of the connector to balance the inside and outside pressure which would vary according to depth - you didn't want it imploding at great depth nor exploding at sea level! - such a simple basic idea, but actually making it happen in a secure, reliable and safe way was where the science/technology came into it! I seem to remember we had the British/European/Eastern Patents for the idea, and a US firm had the patent for the Americas - basically only two firms Worldwide doing what they did - other firms had their own ways of dealing with the pressure imbalance that didn't involve a tiny balancing hole!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12243189/Mangled-debris-Titan-sub-hauled-ashore-Canada.html

Debris being brought back to land.

So some of the pieces are now being recovered. Check the pics - it doesn't look HALF as crushed or mangled as I was expecting..?

Oops forgot the link.... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12243189/Mangled-debris-Titan-sub-hauled-ashore-Canada.html

Those are the outside bits. There won’t have been enough air in them for the pressure to bend them much out of shape, I don’t think. The central bit that held the passengers had much more air to displace rapidly.

I see the comments on the DM are jumping to all kind of conclusions.

Just joining the new thread. Thanks for starting it.
I have read (some of) the last 5 threads. There has been a lot of interesting info (though I must have missed the nutty putty & dolphin links?) some of which I've discussed with my teens studying A levels in Engineering, Physics & Electronics. Posts like @Badbadbunny 's above, are very interesting.
I see that they have recovered some wreckage now. Poor people who went in it.
A field day for the lawyers now I expect.

Ah ok - thank you for that explanation!

Disclaimer: I Am Not A Scientist! But I’m pretty sure that’s the simple version of the science behind it.