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Underwater vision while diving

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There are several aspects regarding vision and underwater vision which divers must take into account at the time of practicing the sport. While diving, our vision is not the same we have while being in the surface and we must consider this once we wish to go into the water.

Underwater vision is distorted due to many factors explained by physics and different laws. Among the facts of physics which are involved in the underwater vision distortion which divers have to face we can find refraction. This is the main aspect involved in underwater vision and the distortion which divers suffer while practicing the sport.

By definition, refraction is a physic phenomenon which happens when light travels from one medium to another which has a different density. Therefore, this can be applied to the mediums of air and water and to the way in which light travels from one into the other causing the underwater vision distortion which divers suffer.

Water is a medium which has a higher optical density than air. Due to this higher optical density, light travels slower in water than in air and this causes a distortion in the way in which divers perceive it and the objects it illuminates. This way, divers must artificially correct this vision problems caused by the refraction laws, and the main way to achieve it is by wearing diving masks.

Diving masks are indispensable for divers to be able to have a proper underwater vision. In order for humans to be able to see correctly, we need to have an air space in front of our eyes in order to minimize the effects produced by the refraction cause by the density of water in which the light travels, and this is what diving masks do.

Diving masks allow divers to receive the right information regarding underwater objects into their brains and therefore see and understand that object correctly. No matter how good a diver`s vision is, if he does not wear a good diving mask when he goes into the water he vision would instantly become distorted. This is why diving masks are necessary and why we see much better into the water while wearing them.

Source: Dive Pilot