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SC002Lesson 1 of 1040 min

Understanding pressure

Almost everything that is different about diving, compared with walking around on land, comes down to one thing: pressure. It squeezes your air spaces, shrinks your gas supply, changes how gases behave in your body and decides how long a cylinder lasts.

In this lesson you will learn what pressure is, how it builds up as you go deeper and how to work out the pressure at any depth. Every later lesson in this course builds on it.

Objectives

  • Define pressure and name the units divers use (bar, ATA and psi)
  • Distinguish atmospheric, gauge and absolute pressure
  • Calculate absolute pressure at a given depth in seawater

Version 0.1, written by UiDive education team · Draft: awaiting technical review

Important: Independent education, not a diving qualification. Learn to dive with a qualified instructor.