Wetsuits

[MarkyP05]

As a keen recreational surfer, not very good, but keen, i use a wetsuit to keep me warm in the water.

I was under the impression that wetsuits work by trapping a layer of water in between the many thin layers neophrene. Water is trapped in this layers and the body heat warms up this water leaving a nice layer of water to keep you warm.

I have recently found a information that says this is a common misconception and that wetsuits work because of the tiny bubbles trapped in the suit itself.

I myself believe that it the later maybe true to an extent but the top reason is how they work.

Can anyone help on this dilema as to which is true, be it both or just the one.

[mrbatfink]

Wetsuits are made of a flexible and soft material called neoprene , which allows a very thin layer of water between your skin and the suit . This water quickly warms up and the insulation provided by the neoprene keeps you warm

Hope it helps..

[jake-the-peg]

As you say your wetsuit traps a layer of water which your body warms up.

Why doesnt that warmth then just conduct out to the sea? Well because the wetsuit is a good insulator (tiny bubbles and all that...

If you were a diver rather than a surfer you'd find your suit got thinner as you went deeper and didn't keep you as warm

Thing is (especially as a surfer) the trapping effect is very important. If your suit was inefficient in trapping the water every time you got in and out you'd get a cold flush of water which would chill you pretty quickly.

Divers sometimes use "semi-dry" suits which are wetsuits with seals. This restricts the flushing.

I guess in summary it's the suits bubbles that keep you warm. It's not that the layer of warm water keeps you warm but the fact that it's trapped stops you from being flushed with cold water

[mrbatfink]

i disagree jake...

its the layer of water in the suit that keeps you warm, the wetsuit just insulates the water from the rest (with tiny air bubbles). This means you body heats the layer of water in the wetsuit faster than the main body of water can cool it. in other words each would do you no good without the other... both are needed.

[jake-the-peg]

Why then are divers wetsuits thicker than wind surfer wetsuits?

If you were correct then the trapping of the water would be all that was important and there would be no point in making them thicker for divers.

[morg_monster]

the thin layer of water gets you warm in the first place, then the air bubbles keep you warm.

Happy?!

(by the way, aren't you both arguing the same point anyway?!)

[mrbatfink]

The deeper you go under water the more pressure there is. This causes the air bubbles in the suit to become compressed, which in turn means they do not work so well. Therefore in order to ensure the insulation works it needs to be thicker with more air bubbles to compensate for the pressure. Also depending how deep you go the water gets colder so more insulation would be required to ensure the water stays warm which in turn keeps you warm. As i said eirlier... both are needed or it would not work.