Diving with goggles

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We don't know exactly why, but it simply works.

You'd think they'd at least try to figure how their own product works.

Probably has to do with the wood itself being porous.

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I'm curious to see the report on using them to dive deep. I think it would be fun to dive with such small goggles instead of a conventional mask. I'd have to make the strap more robust to hold the snorkel.

Doesn't seawater sting like hell when it goes up your nose?

I don't know, the site says:

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Only now we know that with wooden dive goggles you can dive deeper than 20 meters without having a mask squeeze. Check the Videos on our site to convince yourself.

Maybe the epoxy ones don't work.

This is very interesting, i would like to try them out.

I lived in the Philippines where divers wore these. I thought they just got used to the goggle squeeze. There is also the Bajau tribe that ruptures their eardrums at a young age so that they don't have to clear when hunting deep.

Until someone on this forum actually dives to 25-30m with them, I won't be buying a set. Perhaps the volume of the goggle is so small that 20m is attainable (with some discomfort).

Perhaps some have a way to clear through the eyesocket, I just don't know.

Dan, these are some of the weirdest videos i have ever seen...just makes you go huh?!?!?

I had suspected something like this because the sinuses are so close to there. There might be a way to pierce the sinuses to allow just this. If people are rupturing eardrums to dive, maybe they make holes in their sinuses to the eyes. Maybe some groups naturally have that ability, maybe we all do!

My guess would be that because the goggles are made of wood the internal volume wont change as the pressure increases. This matters because Boyle's law states that P1V1=P2V2 what this means is that if the volume of the container of air remains constant the pressure will remain constant also. With a normal mask with a rubber seal the increase in water pressure causes the internal volume of the mask to decrease resulting in an increase in pressure. This is just my thought based on what I've learned about chemistry and physics in college. Maybe someone more intelligent then me (Tin man) can confirm/deny this.

It doesnt quite work like that. The gas inside the goggles at the surface is at an equal pressure to the outside air keeping the goggles from pressing against your face. Underwater the outside pressure is what pushes the mask/goggles against your face. The application of boyle's law is the reason adding air inside the mask works. more air same volume = higher pressure. basically the squeeze come from an imbalance of pressure. The actual pressure inside the mask wont change until you add more air.

I should have thought of that. My train of thought was that if you drop a scuba tank to the bottom the pressure doesn't change because the volume remains constant but if you fill a plastic bag with air and drag it to the bottom the volume decreases which would cause the pressure to rise. I thought that this might somehow relate to the goggles being made of wood which makes them inflexible while a normal mask has a rubber seal which can bend under pressure and decrease the volume of the mask. Also it's the application of Avogadro's law that that makes adding more air to the inside of the mask work, Boyle's law only deals with pressure and volume not with the actual amount of air in the mask.

My bad I got them mixed up. (Avogadro's is the law that should be used in both situations) A scuba tank will heat up (very small amount) as is goes under but this dissipates quickly. Boyles law is very similar but only applies when temperature can be held constant. (Im not trying to lecture) Im only a freshman at Ga Tech.:D

In the goggle situation it has less to do with pressures and more to do with forces. If a change in pressure is what caused pain then humans wouldnt be able to dive at all. Your lungs change volume the entire dive but it doesnt hurt, (usually)

I seriously doubt that these goggles have managed to avaoid the laws of physics and there design doesnt seem revolutionary. I think this is more a product of how this man has adapted to what he has. Its possible he can equalize with his eyes but I would be surprised if thats what he was doing. (Ididnt see him equalize at all) I think the company is mostly taking advantage of the hype and really wont sell that many of these once people realize they arent very special. Even the video is slightly sensationalized as I doubt he normally walks along the bottom like that.

I would winder if the issue is about the eye itself. The eye can move about a little in the socket and it is a soft organ itself. Inside the goggle there is very little air and so to moderate depths the eye might just be able to flex and move in or out until the pain threshold is reached

Thinking about a mask . . .

The air pressure inside the mask exactly balances the outside water pressure at all times, whether you add extra air or not. What changes, is whether the mask has to compress to achieve the pressure balance. When you add air, you increase the internal volume of gas inside the mask, so that the skirt stays "inflated" to the proper position. I guess what I am saying, is that I don't think air pressure on or around the eyes is what causes discomfort, but the way the skirt gets deformed and pressed against the face.

With goggles, maybe it is possible to get a fit in such a way that the frames fit the hard areas of the eye socket (avoiding the softe eye tissue), and create less pain when pressed?

I agree that the pressure of the air isnt what causes the pain but the internal and external pressures arent exactly the same. If you draw a force diagram on the mask there are three forces acting on the mask(excluding the force from the band because that stays constant regardless of depth). 1 the pressure from the water (pointing towards the face) 2 the force from the air inside the mask (pointing out) and 3 the normal force of the face (pointing out). At the surface the internal air pressure is very close to the external air pressure and therefore the normal force isnt very very large (ie still comfortable) as you dive the mask volume begins to decrease as external pressure increases but because of the shape and material the mask isnt allowed to change volume enough so the normal force from you face increase (ie starts to hurt) if you were to dive to 10 m the volume of the mask would have to be half of what it was at the surface. (your nose and forehead wont allow this to happen and the glass keeps it from moving too much around your eyes. Then when you equalize you add more air which increases the internal pressure and reduce the normal force back to a comfortable level. If the internal and external pressures where equal then the force of your face would push the mask off your face.

It would seem if the goggle were able to distribute the force over a large enough surface area or like you said Jeff, press against a less sensitive part of the eye that they could reduce the pain. However, I doubt that the engineers in the RD department at speedo didnt think of that before.

I agree that there can be a normal force from your face, and there is probably a difference in the way equalization is done when freediving / scuba. I'm having a hard time breaking some of my scuba habits, but on scuba, I would equalize until a few small bubbles escaped. So in that case, the internal air pressure and external water pressure exactly balanced (ignoring the mask strap). A scuba mask also has a lot more internal volume, and room to move before it hits the face. But your analysis is stil a more complete one.

I don't have any experience with typical goggles, except messing around in the pool. But the ones I have tried always seem designed to fit just inside the eye socket, and so push on softer tissue instead of bone. At least on me. The wooden goggles just seem a little rounder and maybe larger, so I'm thinking they contact in different places.

They might be. A few companies have designs that area little larger but in order to get to the bone around the eye your nearly at a mask. I noticed the part that would rest around the corner of the eye seems more pronounced than on most goggles and that could alleviate some of the pain. Are we all sure that hes not using liquid goggles? I have heard about competition divers that use them. if his goggles were full of water he wouldnt have any problems.

Im still a skeptic and dont believe these are a revolutionary design.

Conventional goggles have a skirt or soft material to help it seal. Just like a mask, this allows the internal volume of the eye covering to change. If the volume is static the change in pressure might be a lot less notable in the first two ATMs. Just a thought

I was wearing low-profile racing goggles last week and dove to 18m without a problem. I usually have to equalize a mask at about 23m. Maybe this guy was still in a depth where he could handle the goggles.Next time I go out ,I will do a test with the racing goggles and see where the pressure becomes evident.
For real depth dives ; I wear fluid goggles but it would be interesting to test regular goggles.