why do divers wear special suits and have a scuba while diving?

Answer 1

I agree with Jon on this. Why is it that people think that a wet or dry suit keeps the pressure off the human body? Doesn't work that way, only a hard suit like a Newt Suit does that and it's not scuba gear, more of a one man submersible that keeps the diver at 1 atmosphere of pressure. A suit of armor
There are four types of suits a scuba diver will wear. For all of them, their primary purpose is to keep the diver warm.
1/Wet suit. Just that, you get wet. They come in varying thicknesses the thicker the warmer they are at depth. Most wetsuits are made of neoprene, a type of "rubber" that has nitrogen bubbles injected into it. It's the thickness of the material, combined with those nitrogen bubbles that keep you warm The bubbles slow down the heat transfer directly through the suit. The cuffs and neck don't have any particularly good seal and let water in to flow between you and the suit. Your body heats this water up, where it stays against your skin for a little while, before leaving you. It minimizes, but doesn't eliminate heat loss.
Note earlier I said "at depth". As you descend, the nature of the material of the wetsuit changes. Those gas bubbles beging to compress. A suit that was pretty thick at the surface can become very thin at 130 feet. Thinner means less thermal protection. It's common to see a diver tighten up things like dive knives strapped to his body as he goes deeper. The suit has compressed.
These suits are the cheapest and most common.

2/ Semi dry wet suit.: Sounds confusing but isn't. It's a wet suit that has latex or neoprene cuffs that fit snugly at the wrists,neck and ankles. This slows down the water flowing through the suit, keeping that water your body did the work of warming up, longer inside the suit. Keeps you warmer.
These suits are mid range in price and not as common as wet suits.

3/ Dry suits.: Exactly that. A good fitting dry suit, used properly, will only expose, depending on suit design, your hands and/or face to water. If you're diving a dry suit, it's usually because it's very cold water or you are diving in hazardous material. They are unbearably hot in water 60 degrees and up. This type of suit can be made of one of three things. A material we call trilaminate (thin, doesn't compress), vulcanized rubber (thin, tough, doesn't compress and good for hazmat, it rinses off easy) or crushed neoprene (thick, compresses very little).
All rely on a gas, either breathing gas from the tank on the low pressure port of the first stage or a separate bottle of argon carried on the harness or sling, that is attached to a manual demand valve on the front of the suit. That gas is what does a lot of the insulating, besides the undergarment that you wear (like long johns). As you dive deeper, the gas in the suit get's compressed by ambient water pressure. If you let it keep compressing as you go deeper, the dry suit material will begin to pinch you and the lesser gas volume reduces your thermal protection. Hence the manual demand valve. You add gas to the suit to off set this. Comming back up, you now have a lot of gas in that suit. There's an automatic/on demand dump valve, located on the left arm, that will vent gas from the suit out into the water as the ambient water pressure decreases. If you need to, it can be used manually to quickly dump a lot of gas. If this gas dumping didn't happen, your suit would quickly begin to expand (think Michelin Man). This isn't a good thing. It can get out of control very fast, sending you rocketing to the surface, possibley causing injury or death. There's a special course you need to take before using this type of suit because of this possibility.
As for argon being used for dry suits, it's got better insulating properties than normal compressed air from the tank.
These suits are the most expensive. They are custom made.

4/ Reef skins: Not a proper wet suit as such. A very thin, almost lycra type of suit. Very little thermal protection. Used mostly in tropical locations and primarily for protection against hazards such as fire coral.
Relatively cheap suit.

As for Scuba gear, Jon pretty well laid it out on what the acronym stands for.

Answer 2

Diving suits are worn by underwater divers for protection from cold temperatures (the deeper you dive, the colder it gets) and the prevention of hypothermia. These special suits keep them warm by preserving their body heat. They do not protect divers from the pressure of the surrounding water or resulting barotrauma and decompression sickness. Added buoyancy, created by the volume of the suit, is a side effect of diving suits. Sometimes a weightbelt must be worn to counteract this buoyancy.

There are different types of diving suits: wetsuits, drysuits, semi-dry suits, dive skins and hot water suits.

SCUBA is an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. A scuba set provides a scuba diver with the breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during scuba diving.

Answer 3

Apu - first of all - please disregard answers by George and Motti. They are false and when it comes to diving (a potentially dangerous sport) , you should never take chances with bad information.

Divers wear wet suits because they keep you warm, and may also increase your buoyancy or ability to float more easily. In the case of an expensive "dry suit" the suit actually keeps almost all water from your body in really cold diving situations.

In some cases divers wear "skins" which are very thin nylon material for minimum warmth and protection from jellyfish.

SCUBA is an acronym for a system that provides you with compressed air to breath underwater. The freedom this provides allows you to experience the world under water with great freedom.

If you want to dive - take lessons - the learning experience is fun and the sport is thrilling.

Answer 4

the suits worn by divers are made of neoprene and they are called wet suits . A wet suit gives the diver protection from the cold water by trapping water between your body and the suit . the water is warmed up by your body heat and keeps you warm while diving and the scuba gear (self contained underwater breathing apparatus ) gives the diver compressed air which is regulated so you can dive for long periods of time without having to come up for air

Answer 5

Divers wet suits as they are called are worn for a few reasons. Firstly they keep the person warm cos they are made from a material to keep most of the water out and to keep the body temperature in. Secondly it helps with pressure-as you go deeper there is more pressure. Thirdly it can be used as a simple form of protection against cuts, scrapes and bites by small fish. I don't understand your scuba part of the question.

Answer 6

Divers wear special suits while diving be cause the deeper you go the more pressure is put onto your body. The suit helps lessen that pressure. How come ur asking? Is it just a curiosity or are you thinking about going diving?

Answer 7

Because it preserves body heat & keeps the body of the diver warm.(the temperature decreases as you go deeper & deeper into the water.