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Whales, seals, and other marine mammals seem to do alright in the chill waters of the arctic seas, so the US Navy is developing a type of "artificial blubber" to allow divers to work in freezing conditions for hours on end. Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the collaboration between MIT and George Mason University uses an off-the-shelf wetsuit permeated with inert gases to triple a diver's resistance against the threat of hypothermia.
[...] The modification involves replacing the air trapped in the neoprene foam that provides heat insulation with heavy, inert gases, such as xenon and krypton, which make the neoprene act like fat-concentrating blubber. This is done by putting an ordinary neoprene suit into a bespoke pressure tank the size of a beer keg and pumping in the inert gases. After several hours, the gas permeates the suit, forcing the air out.
According to ONR, this makes the suit effective at 10° (50° C)[sic see note] for hours instead of minutes. The treatment isn't permanent as the gases leak out over 20 hours, but the team points out that this is much longer than the time divers spend in the water.
Why not recruit divers with more blubber?
[Note: This conversion error appeared in the original story; it should have read: 10°C (50° F). Story updated 20180907_011649 UTC --martyb]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 07 2018, @12:07AM (7 children)
10° F ≠ 50° C
10° F = about -12 ° C
The error is found in TFA, it's not an error in TFS.
A paragraph or so before the error, they manage to get things correct:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @12:32AM (5 children)
To me, this looks like a prime example of how universities get funding from the government.
Kinda like the religious priests chant out a few phrases in Latin so as to keep the flock putting money in the little plates they pass around.
Say something sciency to justify another round of funds.
(Score: 2) by qzm on Friday September 07 2018, @12:38AM (4 children)
In what way would a heavy gas provide ANY better insulation than a light one?
The only way that springs to mind is perhaps water pressure slowly pushed all the gas out, collapsing the internal voids and thus reducing insulation.
Heavy gasses may migrate out slower.
Other than that, the heavy gas should actually result in LOWER insulation.
The 'solution' would seem to be using a better sealing compound which leaves down more slowly, rather than recharging a leaky compound.
But it all smells much more like a grab for public military funding based on dubious advantages.
I am sure someone will make a packet from selling their recharge pressure tanks for $500k a piece for no real advantage.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @01:24AM
All I know is when I pass gas my pants get really warm. I've never weighed it, so I don't know if it's a heavy gas or just a nasty one. Either way it's warm.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @04:30AM (1 child)
The heavier gas requires more effort to remove energy from I believe is their line of thinking.
But if that's the case why use neoprene at all? Why not have a two layer system with say an 1/8th of an inch to a 1/2 inch of pure vacuum?
Cold would be unable to penetrate due to lack of anything to convect with.
(Score: 3, Informative) by PiMuNu on Friday September 07 2018, @11:22AM
Ever seen a flexible vacuum flask? I haven't either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @05:09AM
I was wondering that, too... all I can figure out is that this is just the song-and-dance ritual that universities go through to get funded these days. Speak a little scienceytalk to justify a grant. It does not have to make sense. Its just fillertalk to put in the blank. The government has already made up their mind they are going to issue grants - they just need a justification for the sake of needing one. Any justification will do.
Next up, a grant to study gravitational effects on falling bricks.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Friday September 07 2018, @01:24AM
Yes, as you correctly surmised, the error appeared in the original story and it was copied over verbatim. I have updated the story here by adding a [sic] and a note to explain what should have appeared. Namely, that 10C ~ 50F! (50C is more like 122F!!)
Thank-you for pointing it out.
Wit is intellect, dancing.