Can you talk underwater?

[slyc_willie]

I have an idea for a scene in my new series, Beyond The Veil, in which two characters, through the use of magic, are able to breathe water. I was wondering what the consensus would be regarding whether or not they could converse underwater.

My first inclination is to say they could. Sound waves, after all, travel about 4.4 times faster through water than through air. But would the presence of water in one's throat preclude the ability to speak?

 

[bb_peaks]

I would think if they could breathe the water then they should be able to speak through the water.

 

[sr71plt]

If it's magic, you can have them doing anything you want.

 

[slyc_willie]

If it's magic, you can have them doing anything you want.

Yes, of course, but I was curious as to the application of physics regarding this. Even though it's magic, it's limited. Sort of a 'one thing at a time' kind of deal.

 

[SeaCat]

I don't think they would be able to speak under water due to the density of the water they were breathing.

Oh and the U.S. Navy among others were experimenting with fluid breathing for a while. I don't know what the final results of that were but it did have some interesting possibilities.

Cat

 

[slyc_willie]

I don't think they would be able to speak under water due to the density of the water they were breathing.

Oh and the U.S. Navy among others were experimenting with fluid breathing for a while. I don't know what the final results of that were but it did have some interesting possibilities.

Cat

Yeah, I remember reading that the scene in the Abyss in which Ed Harris breathes through a liquid solution was based on actual Navy technology at the time, though I wonder if they ever got it working reliably.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It requires very highly oxygenated water. I saw some of the original experiments on film where this little white mouse was swimming around in a big, jar. He seemed remarkable un-distressed by the whole thing.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Having them able to breathe underwater and wondering about speaking under water seems akin to swallowing a camel and straining at a gnat. If, for some reason, the water does not flood their open mouths, they should be able to speak.

 

[Liar]

If you want to be scientific about it...

I'm not sure that just because you can breathe water, that you can also speak in it. Water is pertty dense.

Pumping it in and out of your lungs is a pretty slow movement, so that should be ok.

To get your vocal cords to vibrate by pushing liquid past them, could be tricky. If at all, it would be at a much lower frequency.

 

[xssve]

Sure you can talk - you've never done this in a swimming pool when you were a kid? What you can't do is understand much of anything anybody says, it sounds a lot like you're talking underwater.

Divers touch their masks together if they want to talk, i.e., it works better if you have a medium, like a tin can phone, to focus the vibrations, which do carry, but diffuse rapidly.

Maybe a conch shell or something.

 

[xssve]

Talking underwater.

 

[shereads]

I have an idea for a scene in my new series, Beyond The Veil, in which two characters, through the use of magic, are able to breathe water. I was wondering what the consensus would be regarding whether or not they could converse underwater.

My first inclination is to say they could. Sound waves, after all, travel about 4.4 times faster through water than through air. But would the presence of water in one's throat preclude the ability to speak?

As kids, we used to play a swimming-pool game where we'd take turns talking underwater and trying to guess each others' words. Pretty much impossible. Sound is distorted...But we never tried it with magic.

 

[TE999]

Have your characters be telepathic. Problem solved.

 

[shereads]

Divers touch their masks together if they want to talk,

Never tried that. We learned hand signals for basic communication, and carried writing tablets for complex thoughts such as "Did you turn off the stove before we left Miami?" and "I wouldn't touch that animal if I were you; it just bit off my foot at the ankle."

You can laugh underwater, though, and all of your buddies who also have nitrogen narcosis will understand you just fine!

 

[Liar]

Talking underwater.

Yah, but the crux is, they're still breathing air.

 

[xssve]

Presumably they still would be, via magik - even fish breathe oxygen.

 

[Leto Degeneres]

I have an idea for a scene in my new series, Beyond The Veil, in which two characters, through the use of magic, are able to breathe water. I was wondering what the consensus would be regarding whether or not they could converse underwater.

My first inclination is to say they could. Sound waves, after all, travel about 4.4 times faster through water than through air. But would the presence of water in one's throat preclude the ability to speak?

Every time I tried to do that it sounded like "ah wah tonkawa"

 

[slyc_willie]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

I posted on the In/Out Board, but I'm also going to say it here, in case anyone starts wondering where I am. I'm going to be off Lit for a while. I gots some things ta take care of.

 

[Leto Degeneres]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

I posted on the In/Out Board, but I'm also going to say it here, in case anyone starts wondering where I am. I'm going to be off Lit for a while. I gots some things ta take care of.

Oh man! Well, don't be gone long!

 

[DesertPirate]

Never tried that. We learned hand signals for basic communication, and carried writing tablets for complex thoughts such as "Did you turn off the stove before we left Miami?" and "I wouldn't touch that animal if I were you; it just bit off my foot at the ankle."

You can laugh underwater, though, and all of your buddies who also have nitrogen narcosis will understand you just fine!

If one person laughs, everyone does for some reason
It sounds funnier under water