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Scuba Tank

A scuba tank, commonly called a diving cylinder amongst diving aficionados, is a steel, aluminum, or composite tank that can be filled with a number of pressurized gasses usually air. Pure oxygen is never used and can be fatal as some early divers found out the hard way. Other gasses are also used besides atmospheric air, especially in deep waters, such as helium.

A scuba tank can hold anywhere from 3 liters of compressed air up to 18 liters but multiple tanks can be connected together for longer underwater durations. They can corrode over time which can result in dangerous blow outs if the tank is not examined before filling. Once filled they have to be securely connected to the regulator to function properly. It is impossible to breathe the air from the tank without a regulator.

An 18 liter scuba tank can hold a lot of air. How much time it takes to use up that air depends on a lot of things. The internal pressure that the tank can withstand determines how much the air can be compressed allowing for more air. Every diver also breathes a different amount of air on each breath which means that similar tanks can be spent at drastically different times by different divers. Experienced divers have a formula for computing the amount of time they have underwater and often bring extra tanks and regulators just in case they are needed.

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