Breathing Underwater??? BS in IMO

I was having a debate with a friend of mine last night in regards to breathing underwater... My mate was adamant that if a child is born underwater then remains there it can breath underwater untill the point it emerges into air (even after the umbilical cord is cut) his reasoning was that babies breath in the womb...

I think this is a load of crap as i was always under the impression that ppl needed air (oxygen, notrogen and other gasses in the air) to survive not just oxygen (which is available in water but something like gills are needed to process it) and as to breathign in the womb... i always thought it was the umbilical cord that provided both food, and oxygen rich blood...

I've tried to find stuff on this online but everything about pregency/childbirth is about how to cope and the usual stuff, nothing that would really prove my point or his point... now i'm not a scientist but could modern science have evolve inmto experimenting to see how long new-borns can live underwater... i;ve heard of underwater births but the kid is only under for a few seconds..

I want to hear some insight into this coz i know this site is filled with smart people and if anyone else other than my friend knows of this theory i know i'll find them here...

It is a load of crap. Lungs, and gills differ alot.

A chiuld born under water can survive because he still gets all of his nutrients from the umbilical cord. However, once he's taken out fo the water and starts breathing on his own, he can't go back.

Sure, babies survive while immersed in fluid in the womb, but they won't once they're born. The human body needs oxygen to survive, and the human lungs don't have the capacity to take oxygen from water like the gills on fish can.

of course you can breathe under water, haven't you ever seen th abyss?

it must be quite a special time when the baby takes the first breath and air floods into what I imagine are lungs like a unblown up ballon. If it doesn't work first time you don't get any second chances....

Originally posted by dunkleskates
of course you can breathe under water, haven't you ever seen th abyss?

Water is gooey and pink.

If water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, why can't we breathe underwater?

"The oxygen that fish breath is not the oxygen in H2O. Instead, the fish are breathing O2 (oxygen gas) that is dissolved in the water. Many different gases dissolve in liquids, and we see an example all the time in carbonated beverages. In these beverages, there is so much carbon dioxide gas dissolved in water that it rushes out in the form of bubbles.
Fish "breathe" the dissolved oxygen out of the water using their gills. It turns out that extracting the oxygen is not very easy -- according to Encyclopedia Britannica air has something like 20 times more oxygen in it than the same volume of water. Plus water is a lot heavier and thicker than air, so it takes a lot more work to move it around. The main reason why gills work for fish is the fact that fish are cold-blooded, which reduces their oxygen demands. Warm-blooded animals like whales breath air like people do because it would be hard to extract enough oxygen using gills."

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
It is a load of crap. Lungs, and gills differ alot.

Thats what i thought... i'm still trying to find something that will prove him wrong... other than common sense... which he lacks obviosly

It is a load of crap. Lungs, and gills differ alot.

i fully agree with SpittinCobra on this one there are very little simalarities between gills and lungs

Originally posted by Esoterica
A chiuld born under water can survive because he still gets all of his nutrients from the umbilical cord. However, once he's taken out fo the water and starts breathing on his own, he can't go back.

Yeah thats what i told my mate... it would be possible as long as the umbilical cord is still attached... he claims it works after to cord is cut... like i said BS but i'm not one to argue my view without confirming i'm right

Yea, it's BS after that. The whole reason it works, IIRC, is because the child isn't really breathing in the first place. Once he starts taking breaths, he's a landlubber for life.

Yeah, as for The Abyss... the "water" they are breathing (the thick pink goo) actually DOES work! You breathe fluid for the 1st 9 months of your life... it just takes a little getting used to it again... The 'goo' contains all the oxygen and stuff you need to breathe.

I havent heard anything about this in quite a while though. It was supposed to be used for deep sea divers (duh) to combat the immense pressure being applied to their chest while underwater. Its gotta be hard that 1st time, breathing a liquid into your lungs... maybe its a good thing for you smokers out there! Kinda like the Lung-Brush!

The child can't ultimately "breathe" under water. Has your mate ever seen a child birth or what happens to the child afterward. The baby actually has "nose plugs" that are suctioned out and fluid suctioned out of the mouth. I hope that helps a little.

I remember seeing something in TLC a number of years ago. It showed some new borns (like really newly born) in a swimming pool and they were swimming underwater (with no umbilical cord). But they wern't breathing the water, they just naturaly held there breath as far as i remember. But they seemed to be able to stay underwater for a good length of time though. Maybe your friend just got a bit confused about that.

Also just look at the album cover for "Nevermind" by "Nirvana"

www.newton.dep.anl.gov...

Originally posted by specialasianX
I was having a debate with a friend of mine last night in regards to breathing underwater... My mate was adamant that if a child is born underwater then remains there it can breath underwater untill the point it emerges into air (even after the umbilical cord is cut) his reasoning was that babies breath in the womb...

I think this is a load of crap as i was always under the impression that ppl needed air (oxygen, notrogen and other gasses in the air) to survive not just oxygen (which is available in water but something like gills are needed to process it) and as to breathign in the womb... i always thought it was the umbilical cord that provided both food, and oxygen rich blood...

I've tried to find stuff on this online but everything about pregency/childbirth is about how to cope and the usual stuff, nothing that would really prove my point or his point... now i'm not a scientist but could modern science have evolve inmto experimenting to see how long new-borns can live underwater... i;ve heard of underwater births but the kid is only under for a few seconds..

I want to hear some insight into this coz i know this site is filled with smart people and if anyone else other than my friend knows of this theory i know i'll find them here...

I can actually give you some insight. You're both wrong. My dad was a paramedic, and had experience with people who had drowned. People never "breath" water. However, they can live underwater in cooler conditions. There have been many people who have drowned (taken water in their lungs) in lake michigan that he has saved. When the temperature is low, and the person isn't breathing, their metabolism slows down to the point of a crawl. When he would go to rescue someone from drowning in cold water, he would keep their face in the water.

I remember a story he told me about a boy who drowned in a pond in the midst of Feb. His buddy, Roach, went into the pond, and was bringing the kid back to shore, face down. The mother became hystaricle, hitting my dad, demanding why they were allowing him to die. It was over 20 minutes before they turned the kid over and did CPR -- no brain damage.

However, he also has told me about rookies doing wrong, in the cold water flipping the person over. For some reason, he told me, after about 3 minutes, if you can breath air, you die. If you can't in a hypothermic event, you can live for about 2 hours. The only reason I can think for this is that oxygen is the burning catalyst in your body, and when you deprive your body of that, it goes into a hibernation mode.

However, every person who was underwater was unconscious. That would be a curel fate for a baby, living underwater, comatose....

i think everyone is confused, its been proven that when a baby is born under water they instinctually start swimming and holds its breath like anyone who swims, they cant breathe under water, someone got swimming and breathing under water confused with eachother.

Originally posted by namehere
i think everyone is confused, its been proven that when a baby is born under water they instinctually start swimming and holds its breath like anyone who swims, they cant breathe under water, someone got swimming and breathing under water confused with eachother.

Yeah i knew young babies seemed at home being in water (swimming, holding their breath etc etc), but i had never heard of any human breathing underwater naturally...

I thought this thread was dead and gone... but oh well... i have since proven my friend wrong but him being the arrogant type wouldnt hear of it, but oh well i'm at peace

I saw this article on a t.v. science show a couple of years ago.
The rat panicked for about 15-20sec and then just started
breathing this stuff.

www.gbphoto.com...
S.