A comparative study of the breathing and clearing characteristics of different types of snorkels

This article presents a comparative study of the breathing resistance and clearing characteristics of several types of commercially available snorkels in an attempt to device quantitative means that enable the divers to select the best snorkel and the designers to see the possible directions and modifications necessary for improving the performance of such important life support devices.Two test stands have therefore been built, the first to measure the breathing resistance and the second to monitor the clearing efficiency and speed of some of the commonly used snorkels.The tested snorkels varied from the simple J-type to the sophisticated wrap-around snorkels with convoluted flexible hoses and flared ends.The results obtained show that large diameter snorkels of the wrap-around design with sweeping barrels and flared ends (as the AMF Swimmaster snorkel number 2S55) offer the least breathing resistance. As for the clearing characteristics snorkels with small diameters and of the simple J-type (as the Spanish Aquasub snorkel: The Canarias) or with large diameters and sweeping barrels (as the Power Tuned snorkel of U.S. divers) possess the best clearing figure of merit.     

Photometry of the bright stars inside and outside associations in the spiral arm S5 of the andromeda galaxy

Photometry of more than 1000 bright stars of 20 associations and some fields in its vicinity is made, usingUBV plates taken with a 2-m Ritchey-Chrétien telescope of the National Observatory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with limited magnitudes of about 20.6 inU andV, 21.6 inB. The colour-magnitudes of about 20.6 inU andV, 21.6 inB. The colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams of 12 associations and 8 fields are constructed and the brightest blue and red stars colour excesses, ages, and integrated luminosities of the associations are determined. The composite diagrams for all association and nonassociation measured stars are constructed too. Inside associations bright stars as well as non-stellar objects occur more often than outside. The brightest stars in S5 are withM _v7 and do not differ considerably from the brightest ones in the spiral arm S4 of M31. Approximately the same are the absolute magnitudes of the brightest stars in our Galaxy and M33. A small difference between the brightest stars of the latter galaxy with those of M31 is possible because the stars in M33 are younger. This is in agreement with the concept that Sc galaxies (for example M33) are younger than Sb ones (for example M31). The same could be the reason for the smaller ratio of blue to red supergiants in M33 than in M31. The age estimations of the associations in S5 together with those in S4 in M31 show that they are older than the associations in M33 which is in agreement with the above mentioned concept.