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Scuba diving suitsThe scuba diving suit is an essential piece of equipment when diving, it aids in keeping the diver warm and helps to prevent hyperthermia and is also used to help protect against elements under water such as stings from sea urchins and avoiding cuts and grazes. There are many different type of suit and modern diving suits are generally divided into two kinds, the soft or ambient pressure diving suit which is the more popular and used on normal dives and the hard or atmospheric pressure diving suit.The ambient pressure diving suit There are four basic types of the ambient pressure suit and these are the wetsuit, dry suit which are the more commonly used, semi-dry suit and the dive skin. These suits are used for protection against the elements and help to protect against hyperthermia when diving in colder climates and colder water. They are also worn to protect the diver from elements under water such as sharp objects on the oceans bottom and to protect them from harmful underwater life. Suits of this type are normally made from a material known as neoprene which is a heavy-duty fabric coated with rubber or PVC. Added buoyancy is created by the suits and due to this compensation will have to be made by adding a weight belt to help counteract buoyancy problems. However some dry suits have in built controls which allow the diver to easily compensate for buoyancy problems. The wet suit The wet suit is designed to allow water into the suit and this water then warms up to body temperature and acts as insulation against hyperthermia. In order for the suit to be efficient it should be a tight fit to the body and flexible seals at the cuffs help to achieve this. It is thought that the modern wet suit can be accredited to USA navy divers around 1951, but it wasn't until 1953 that the suit we know today made from neoprene was introduced and manufactured. Wet suits come in many different thicknesses depending on the conditions in which they are to be used, however the thicker the suit the less mobile the diver can be. They also come in different lengths from the short version that has short arm and leg length to full suits that cover the arms and legs completely. The dry suit The dry suit is sealed at the wrists, feet and neck and don't allow the water to enter, the modern dry suit will have buoyancy controls built into the suit by way of an air inflation valve. The dry suit was traditionally worn on top of an insulating under suit although now some divers wear the wet suit under the dry suit instead; some suits will have built in boots while others have ankle seals instead. |
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