I have only been scuba diving once in my life and I can say that I had a fun experience. Before I jumped in the water I was given a few tips by the scuba instructor that was there to help us: he told me what the proper technique was to make a dive and what to do when encountered by different creatures of the sea. But he never told me the important role that physics has when it comes to scuba diving, light, pressure and buoyancy for example. SCUBA, which stands for Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, can be quite dangerous if you do not understand all aspects of the sport.

The earliest self-contained underwater breathing equipment effectively used by a group of divers was invented by a guy named Christian Lambertsen. He began to make containers which enclosed oxygen for you to breathe in and out of...