What is the length of time a human being can stay underwater without breathing?

Question

I am comparing breathing of humans to breathing of whales in a presentation for 7-10 year olds.

Answer 1

As a former CPR instructor I know of cases of cold water drowning where victims were revived after a half hour or more.

The Doctor that certified my training told the class about the "Rule of 3". 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water and 3 minutes without oxygen. He said it wasn't carved in stone but was a very good rule of thumb.

At 7 - 10 years these kids probably don't need the issue complicated but there is a difference between how long a person WILL stay underwater and how long they CAN stay underwater.

Check out the Asian women who pearl dive. Some of them have some unbelievable lung capacity with diving durations of several minutes being fairly common. If you are including animals, I have seen alligators stay submerged for very long periods of time. I didn't put a watch on them at the time as I was unaware you would ever ask this question.

Hope this helps and good luck with the young ones.

Answer 2

Depends on the human.. and their lung capacity.

There are some people who may be able to hold their breath up to 3 minutes (rare)

My guess is the average time would be 45 seconds to a minute and a half.

Answer 3

Depends on the human...
Usually about a minute/45 secs..
But there are a few peeps here and there like that guy who was in water for like a week.. He held his breath for about 7 minutes I think..
The record was a german guy who held his breath for 9 mins.

Answer 4

It varies from person to person. I have a friend who is a boat captain. He can hold his for over 3 minutes. He swears it was more like 6 minutes before he started smoking.

Answer 5

I have gone as long as 2 minutes, but it varies from person to person.

Answer 6

I can do it as long as 2 min but different people, different durations

Answer 7

depends how big your lungs are

Answer 8

one minute.