"Diving has intense physiological effects on your body, so you never want to run out of time. There's a technique called burning, or exothermic cutting, to cut steel underwater. There's zero visibility. You have 10,000 degrees in your hand, and hydrogen gas is a byproduct. A bubble the size of your fist is as powerful as a stick of dynamite."
"With the cap under strain, I said, Make it hot, turned the torch on, held it at arm's length, felt for that bolt, and started cutting through it, hoping with everything in me that it didn't fall towards me. I felt the steel start to give way, heard it moaning, then pow. The cap fell away from me but caught me in the shoulder, throwing me down to the seabed."
Divers have a 40-minute maximum bottom time due to intense physiological effects. Exothermic or 'burning' cutting is used to cut steel underwater in zero visibility, producing 10,000-degree heat and hydrogen gas as a byproduct. Hydrogen bubbles can be as powerful as a stick of dynamite. In one operation, a concrete cap bolted to four steel beams was rigged for removal after bolts were cut. One bolt remained, leaving the cap under strain. Under supervisor pressure and limited time, a diver cut the last bolt. The cap fell, struck the diver's shoulder, and pinned him on the seabed while swinging overhead.
Read at www.esquire.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]