At what ocean depth does the partial pressure of oxygen in air equal 1.6 ata?

To determine at what ocean depth the partial pressure of oxygen in air reaches 1.6 ATA, it’s important to understand the relationship between pressure and depth in water.

At sea level, the atmospheric pressure is typically around 1 ATA. As you descend into the ocean, the pressure increases by approximately 1 ATA for every 33 feet of seawater. Therefore, the total pressure at a certain depth can be calculated as the sum of the atmospheric pressure plus the water pressure due to the depth.

The formula to find the partial pressure of a gas is:

[ \text{Partial Pressure (ATA)} = \text{Total Pressure (ATA)} \times \text{Fraction of the Gas in the Mixture} ]

In air, the percentage of oxygen is approximately 21%. Thus, to find the depth at which the partial pressure of oxygen reaches 1.6 ATA, we can set up the equation:

[ 1.6 = \text{Total Pressure} \times 0.21 ]

This simplifies to:

[ \text{Total Pressure} = \frac{1.6}{0.21} \approx 7.62 , ATA ]

Now, subtracting the 1 ATA of atmospheric