The Oxygen Content of Water: Can Humans Breathe Underwater?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the feasibility of humans breathing underwater by extracting oxygen from water through electrolysis. The original poster (OP) references a YouTube video claiming that water contains sufficient oxygen for breathing, citing a chemical reaction (2H2O - 2H2 + O2) that suggests water has 33% oxygen. However, participants clarify that the oxygen available for aquatic life is dissolved oxygen, not the oxygen in water molecules, and emphasize the impracticality of using electrolysis due to high energy requirements.

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  • Familiarity with electrolysis and its energy demands.
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  • Investigate alternative methods for underwater breathing, such as artificial gills.
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nibbel11
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i found a vid on youtube of a guy explaining about what would happen if we could breath the oxygen out of the water, and his conclusion was that there was to little oxygen.
and i also took a look at it, but i in my research it was perfectly possible. i would like if you take a look and maybe confirm my stuff or say what i forgot

air is made out of 20% oxygen
to get water to oxygen:
2H2O - 2H2+O2
so for every 2 volumes of water is 33% oxygen
when oxygen levels drop to 12% it is vatal
so does this mean if we were able to do instant electrolysis doesn't that mean we could breath in water not taking in any other facts.
 
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nibbel11 said:
i found a vid on youtube of a guy
This is not a valid reference for a thread start. How are we supposed to find the explicit video you refer to?

nibbel11 said:
if we were able to do instant electrolysis
Where would you get the energy from? The reason you breathe is to be able to burn organic compounds to get energy. Doing the electrolysis would spend way too much energy for it to be effective. Breathing from water you would need to breathe the dissolved O2, not perform electrolysis with the water.
 
nibbel11 said:
i found a vid on youtube of a guy explaining about what would happen if we could breath the oxygen out of the water, and his conclusion was that there was to little oxygen.
and i also took a look at it, but i in my research it was perfectly possible. i would like if you take a look and maybe confirm my stuff or say what i forgot
Probably he was referring to the oxygen dissolved in water and not to the oxygen atoms contained in the water molecule.
Fish use the oxygen dissolved in water for "breathing".
 
Orodruin said:
This is not a valid reference for a thread start. How are we supposed to find the explicit video you refer to?

Youtube? :biggrin:



The video states that it would take two hoverboard batteries to run the device for a whole minute.
 
Fervent Freyja said:
Youtube? :biggrin:
That we can find it is besides the point. It is the OP's task to provide the reference, not ours to go looking for it.
 
Orodruin said:
That we can find it is besides the point. It is the OP's task to provide the reference, not ours to go looking for it.

Did you just bite me?

As I predicted. :devil:
 

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