Click to listen to episode (4:33).
Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.)
Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 1-19-24.
TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the week of January 22, 2024. This is a revised version of an episode from
January 2016.
MUSIC – ~9 sec – instrumental.
In this episode, we use music by a Blacksburg, Va., singer-songwriter to help
us dive underwater. Have a listen for about 55 seconds.
MUSIC - ~54 sec – Lyrics: “Endless water calls to you. Falling backward into blue. Lovers breathing, adapting, reaching,
receiving. Bubbles lifting, creatures
sweeping into view; you’re an alien at sea.
Scuba dive; scuba dive.”
You’ve been listening to part of “Scuba Dive,” by Kat Mills, on the 2015 album
“Silver.” Ms. Mills’ lyrics use the
challenges and thrills of underwater diving as metaphors for exploration and
trust in human relationships.
While human interactions can be quite unpredictable, the main challenges of the underwater environment come from several predictable physical, chemical, and biological properties of deep water. Water’s density affects vision and hearing underwater. Buoyancy—resulting from the density of a submerged object compared to the density of the surrounding water—must be adjusted for moving up or down. Movement is also affected by the frictional resistance of water, or drag. Pressure from the weight of the water affects a diver’s lungs, sinuses, and ears, as well as the levels of oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases dissolved in the water and in one’s blood. Temperature affects dissolved gases, too, along with presenting a body-heat challenge. Divers can become partially dehydrated through breathing dehumidified compressed air. And dangerous aquatic organisms may await. Adapting to those challenges through underwater breathing devices, other equipment, training, and experience allows divers to enjoy the exhilaration of feeling weightless, seeing fascinating creatures, and exploring worlds most humans never see.
Add in some trust and overcoming of one’s fears, and people
continue to fall backwards into endless blue water, literally and figuratively.
Thanks to Kat Mills for permission to use this episode’s music, and we close
with about 30 more seconds of “Scuba Dive.”
MUSIC - ~30 sec – Lyrics: “Scuba dive.”
SHIP’S BELL
Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624. Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close this episode. In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.
AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Virginia Water Radio episode revises and replaces Episode 299, 1-18-16.
Scuba (also written SCUBA and S.C.U.B.A.) is an abbreviation
for “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.” For information on this abbreviation, see
Underwater Kinetics, “What does SCUBA stand for? Plus other diving acronyms,” December 19,
2019, online at https://uwk.com/blogs/scuba-guide/diving-acronyms.
“Scuba Dive,” from the 2015 album “Silver,” is copyright by Kat Mills; used with permission. More information about Kat Mills is available online at https://katmills.com/home.
Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode. More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.
IMAGES
SOURCES
Used for Audio
Dennis K. Graver, Scuba
Diving - Second Edition, Human
Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, 1999.
For More Information Physical and
Chemical Properties of Water
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science School, “Water Properties Information
by Topic,” online at http://water.usgs.gov/edu/waterproperties.html.
RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES
All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html). See particularly the “Science” subject category.
Following are links to some
other episodes on chemical or physical properties relevant to the underwater
environment.
Buoyancy – Episode 483, 7-29-19.
Density – Episode
255, 3-2-15; Episode 483, 7-29-19 (in buoyancy).
Dissolved Oxygen – Episode 333, 9-12-16.
Water thermodynamics – Episode 610, 1-3-22.
FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS
– RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION
Following are some Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) that may be supported by this episode’s audio/transcript, sources, or other information included in this post.
2020 Music SOLs
SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”
2017 English SOLs
Reading Theme
5.4, 6.5, 7.4, 8.4, 8.5, 9.3, 9.4, 10.3, 10.4, 11.4 – Symbols,
imagery, figurative language, and other literary devices.
2018 Science SOLs
Grades K-3 plus 5: Matter
K.4 – Water is important in our daily lives and has
properties.
1.3 – Objects are made from materials that can be described
by their physical properties.
5.7 – Matter has properties and interactions.
Grades K-5: Earth and
Space Systems
4.7 – The ocean environment.
Grade 6
6.6 – Water has unique physical properties and has a role in
the natural and human-made environment.
Life Science
LS.7 – Adaptations support an organism’s survival in an
ecosystem.
Physical
Science
PS.3 – Matter has
properties and is conserved in chemical and physical processes.
Earth Science
ES.10 – Oceans are complex, dynamic systems subject to long-
and short-term variations.
Biology
BIO.2 – Chemical and biochemical processes are essential for
life.
Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/instruction
Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade
levels.
Episode 255, 3-2-15 – on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.
Episode 483, 7-29-19 – on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.
Episode 524, 5-11-20 – on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school through high school.
Episode 531, 6-29-20 – on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd and 4th grade.
Episode 539, 8-24-20 – on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources, for 4th and 6th grade.
Episode 606, 12-6-21 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
